this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2025
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Any department of transportation isn't going to have their own print department, as far as I know. They contract out print jobs like that since the equipment and expertise to produce at scale are prohibitively expensive for just one client. As I've seen, that kind of job uses laser-etched plates on rollers with different plates for each colour. Pantone inks, probably. So they need the laser machine, a printer the size of a small apartment, the licensing, and all the materials, just for signs.
The reflective coating is just a simple laminated layer.
Source: Worked at a printers and toured a couple screenprinting shops who had contracts with the city. We'd print anything as long as someone paid and sent the correct filetype.
It's the same in Germany, I've been in a sign making factory and they will make signs for everyone who pays. The illegal part is not owning them, the only illegal part would be putting them up on public streets without authorization. You are definetly allowed to use these signs on your own private ground, on a private parking lot for example.
Because of this, I looked into whether the Canadian governments and municipalities had some kind of copyright, but couldn't find anything except laws against interfering with traffic. Enforcing a ban on making your own signs would be way more tedius than just saying "Don't fuck with traffic" anyway.
And yeah, you're right, there are signs like those all over private lots and around businesses. There's nothing special about the government ones.