I've just come back from a business trip to Portland (Oregon). For the first time ever the cashier was told by the card machine to stick the chipped card into the reader. I then had to enter the PIN and they went on to still take the signature. That's how it should be done. They get the PIN to verify who I am and I can always ask for the signed scrap of paper to verify that it was me that made the purchase.
I don't know what would have happened had I not had the PIN.
I found myself without a credit card the last time we went, (Sept just gone), so I took my dad's card, and not only did I not need the pin, nobody even looked at the signature. He's still paying for it