What happens when a traffic sign turns out to be illegal?

One such sign was found in Paramus by a reader. That sign reads, "Move On Green Only."

"It is at the intersection of Pascack Road and Oradell Avenue. If you drive south on Pascack Road approaching Oradell Avenue, you can't miss it," she wrote. "This is a busy intersection, and I see lots of cars make right turns there. "

Q: "What is the difference between "No Turn on Red" and "Move on Green Only." Do they mean the same thing?

A: We started by asking the state Department of Transportation and got an unexpected answer.

"Move On Green Only" is not an approved sign," said Dan Triana, a spokesman. "NJDOT staff will inform Paramus officials that the sign should be removed."

Sign approval comes from the U.S. DOT Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways, and all traffic control devices used in New Jersey, including signs, must conform to the manual, he said.

But Paramus officials said the sign was never the borough's, although they said it served a purpose.

The intersection in question has a delayed green traffic signal for Pascack Road, and the sign was posted to prevent traffic from making a right turn on red, which could have collided with on coming traffic, said Kenneth Ehrenberg, Paramus Police Chief

"People were watching the (traffic) flow from other direction and jumping the green light," he said. "That's how those signs got there, but it's not our intersection."

That junction at Pascack Road and Oradell Avenue is the intersection of two Bergen County roads, he said. Ehrenberg estimated the sign had been up for about 10 years.

"The Paramus police were having an issue with southbound vehicles not realizing they have a delayed green," said Nancy Dargis, assistant Bergen County engineer.

That sign is now in the history books and was replaced by a less confusing and street legal "delayed green" sign, she said.

"The sign must have been an old sign, we couldn't find it in the manual," Dargis said.

Besides the mystery of the perplexing Paramus traffic sign, we've helped answer other commuting quandaries, from what are the 15,000 reasons to use your turn signal to whether opening this lane would make Sunday traffic less of a pain.

What's your question?

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

