Last Friday night, Road and Coastal Administration staff noticed that all 70km/hour [43 mph] speed limit signs on the way to and from Sauðárkrókur had disappeared, Feykir reports, as well as one 90km/hour [56 mph] sign by Glaumbær. According to Rúnar Pétursson, head supervisor of the district branch in Sauðárkrókur, some unscrupulous individuals unscrewed the signs from their posts and made them disappear. The speed limit on roads leading to and from Sauðárkrókur has recently been lowered from 90 to 70 km/hour.
“Seven signs are gone. People don’t realise how much they cost. These signs alone cost between 2 and 3 hundred thousand. I don’t think they have any collection value, and it would be a strange obsession to collect such signs,” Rúnar stated that the incident hasn’t been formally reported to the police but they have been in contact with the police. “They’re snooping around, we’ll see how it goes. It’s happened before that the police have found such missing objects in the unlikeliest of places. But that’s the current situation and we hope that the perpetrator will have a change of heart and sneak the signs onto our lot when the nonsense wears off,” Rúnar told Feykir. He added that it was not a clever prank to steal traffic signs, as they are put up for a reason and the prank might impact traffic safety in the town.
The traffic signs were recently put up in new locations in Sauðárkrókur, in some places changing the speed limit from 90 km/hour to 70. According to Feykir’s reporters, it’s possible that some people weren’t fond of the change. They still have some time to return the signs before the incident is reported to the police.
