Two-sided signs not used in age

Dear Mahatma: Back in the good old days many road signs had printed on the back side a message that said, “Walk on left facing traffic.” This seemed like a good idea, but I suspect it was eliminated due to cost. Perhaps you could hit up your contacts and ask them to consider bringing this message back. — Terry

Dear Terry: We asked several contacts, but none of them remembered street signs with that double message. One of our contacts cast his mind back all the way to the beginning of his traffic career in 1979 and came up a blank.

But wait! Here comes David Nilles of the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

He reported that the Highway Department installed signs that said “WALK ON LEFT FACING TRAFFIC” back in the day. How far back?

Nilles says there is evidence of the sign listed in the 1951 version of the Arkansas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways.

The sign was black and white, 18 inches by 24 inches. There is no record of making such a sign since 1972, he said, which is as far back as the agency’s sign manufacturing records go.

O Grand Poobah of the Roads: On the University of Arkansas specialized license plates, the small vertical letters have gone through several series such as UA, RZ, WP and YA. The newest series is OM. Is that abbreviation paying homage to Paul Eells’ cry of “Oh, my!”?

— Old John Dear John: For those who forgot, Paul Eells was a sports broadcaster who famously — in these parts, anyway — did play-by-play for football and basketball games of the University of Arkansas. Yeah, the one in Fayetteville.

Eells did that work for many years. He was noted for his exclamations — “Oh, my!” and “Touchdown Arkansas!” He died in 2006 in a traffic accident on Interstate 40 in Russellville. His memory lives on.

But does the OM on the UA license plates mean what Old John speculates?

No. OM stands for Old Main, the campus’ signature building.

Dear Mahatma: I have a pet peeve. When I’m waiting for traffic to clear to turn left, oncoming drivers also waiting to turn left often stop about 25 yards down the street, rather than pulling up directly across from me, where we could execute almost simultaneous left turns when traffic clears.

— Square Turner Dear Square: Regarding left turns, we have read and pondered Arkansas Code Annotated 27-51-401, “Turning at intersections.”

It has a lot to say, fundamentally this: “The approach for a left turn shall be made in that portion of the right half of the roadway nearest the center line of the road.” But there appears to be zilch about your observation.

Perhaps your car is such a wretched clunker no one wants to get close to. You need a new pickup. Us, too. Let’s ask our wives. You go first.