Am open for suggestions on what else could be done to prevent this kind of thing, as otherwise the mindless government bureaucracy will eventually 'fix' it for us, their (lowest common denominator) way, by making neon completely safe by making it completely illegal...
My favorite story in this regard is when I had Los Angeles inspector just nit picking a good installation of ours. It was a long time ago, so I don't remember the specifics, but his complaints were baseless. Anyhow, I pointed to an installation across the street that looked similar to those examples shown under this thread (GTO draped across the fascia, no electrode cups, etc.) and asked him why he didn't do anything about those obvious and unsafe transgressions. He simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "There's nothing I can do about that". Astonished, I asked why and he said, "Because that sign doesn't have a permit". !!!!
When this is the governmental attitude, there is little left to wonder about.