Zombies to Plunder San Francisco, Traffic Sign Warns

By Peter Jamison Fri., Jul. 15 2011 at 7:00 AM

Categories: Transportation, WTF?

Rudeen Monte

Hacking electronic road signs so that they display warnings of impending zombie invasions has become something of a national pastime. Such pranks have taken place in Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas, and probably elsewhere. (Our brains remain safely in our skulls, so we at least assume these are pranks.)

Now it appears the zombie threat has reached San Francisco. As richmondsfblog.com reports, last Sunday's northbound motorists on Park Presidio witnessed a roadside sign with the electronic message, "ZOMBIES PLUNDER SF." (See photo, right.) What could it mean? Who are the hackers? Where are the zombies?

We put in a call to the California Department of Transportation -- which is performing roadwork on this stretch of Highway 1 -- in an effort to clarify whether our city is in danger. We haven't heard back. Since there's no sign of the walking dead just yet -- aging Summer of Love burnouts notwithstanding -- we're going to guess we're in the clear.

Thanks to Sarah B. at richmondblogsf.com and photographer Rudeen Monte for permission to republish their photo.

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