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Michael Conroy/AP
Michael Conroy/AP
It could be the end of the road for some of those funny, punny one-liners that states have been putting on electronic freeway signs. The Federal Highway Administration has new rules about those displays.
Over the years, the agency has flagged signs that could be confusing. Now, in rules issued last month, it gives states two years to phase out signs that have "obscure" meanings or use pop-culture references that could require drivers "greater time to process." In a statement, the agency said safety is the priority and states "are expected to exercise good judgment."
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The agency provided a new comment Friday, saying the regulation does not "include a ban on humor or pop culture references. . . . Rather, it includes a recommendation to avoid the use of humor and pop culture references because it may confuse or distract drivers." It said signs should be clear, simple, command attention and respect, and provide time for response.
Safety messages for drivers have long been serious, with some attempts to be catchy. "Click it or ticket," about buckling seat belts, has been around for decades, as has "drive sober or get pulled over."
But in the last several years, states have been using electronic billboards that show traffic and weather alerts or to promote buckling seat belts, obeying the speed limit and not driving impaired. Sometimes they ramp up their messages with a little more zip.
In Arizona, drivers around July 4th have seen the message: "Only sparklers should be lit." Around Halloween, "Hocus pocus &#; drive with focus," was featured in Texas.
And in Ohio, there was this holiday advice: "Visiting in-laws? Slow down, get there late."
"When I tell people I work at ODOT, a lot of times the first question they ask me is, 'Well, are you the guy that does the signs?'" said Matt Bruning, press secretary for the Ohio Department of Transportation, which has been using humorous messages since .
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"And it's funny when they'll quote off some that they remember. I mean, that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to get those safety messages through to people, things that we already know."
Signs can be useful reminders. An FHWA study in June showed 54% of drivers reported changing behaviors after seeing specific messages on electronic signs on roadways.
But repeated phrases can feel stale after a while so some states started revving up those messages to make them more memorable.
Now Bruning says the FHWA is putting the brakes on with an update to its manual on those signs.
"We need to limit references to pop culture that maybe aren't widely understood. It also encourages us to make sure that any reference we put up is widely understood," Bruning said.
As an example, he describes a message about wearing seat belts that went up a few years ago &#; a reference to an often-quoted mispronunciation in a scene from A Christmas Story, a movie filmed mostly in Cleveland.
"'Life is fragile' and we spelled it out 'fra-gee-lay," Bruning said. "And we thought, man, everybody's seen 'A Christmas Story,' especially in Ohio. Everyone will get that. There are a lot of people who didn't. Unfortunately, they didn't know what we were trying to say. We got some confused calls and emails and so we won't use that one again."
New Jersey also went down the funny route, putting up messages that included "Hold on to your butts. Help prevent forest fires," and "We'll be blunt. Don't drive high." The state's department of transportation posted on social media that drivers need to stop taking photos of funny signs or "we will turn this car around and go back to the old messages."
The highway agency ordered New Jersey to take down those messages in , but the state brought back the funny displays in November.
Messages to drivers about safety are useful, says Tripp Shealy, an associate professor of civil engineering at Virginia Tech. He led a study in of how signs on highways can affect behavior.
Shealy says signs that played with words or sought to be funny while still hitting a specific message made drivers think, and therefore were effective.
"Something that's funny with a behavior change [suggestion] of "Be safe" is not very specific," he says. "What do you do with that, right? But 'Get your head out of your apps" is word play, humor, and very direct, right? Don't look at your .'"
A variable- (also changeable-,[1] electronic-, or dynamic-) message sign or message board, often abbreviated VMS, VMB, CMS, or DMS, and in the UK known as a matrix sign,[2] is an electronic traffic sign often used on roadways to give travelers information about special events. Such signs warn of traffic congestion, accidents, incidents such as terrorist attacks, AMBER/Silver/Blue Alerts, roadwork zones, or speed limits on a specific highway segment. In urban areas, VMS are used within parking guidance and information systems to guide drivers to available car parking spaces. They may also ask vehicles to take alternative routes, limit travel speed, warn of duration and location of the incidents, inform of the traffic conditions, or display general public safety messages.
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VMS systems were deployed at least as early as the s on the New Jersey Turnpike.[3] The road's signs of that period, and up to around , were capable of displaying a few messages in neon, all oriented around warning drivers to slow down: "REDUCE SPEED", followed by a warning of either construction, accident, congestion, ice, snow, or fog at a certain distance ahead.[4] The New Jersey Turnpike Authority replaced those signs (along with s-vintage dot-matrix VMS systems along the Garden State Parkway) with more flexible electronic signs between and .
The current VMS systems are largely deployed on freeways, trunk highways, or in work zones.[citation needed]
On the interchange of I-5 and SR 120 in San Joaquin County, California, an automated visibility and speed warning system was installed in to warn traffic of reduced visibility due to fog (where tule fog is a common problem in the winter), and of slow or stopped traffic.
Message Signs were deployed in Ontario during the s and are now being upgraded on 400-series highways as well as two pilot secondary highways in northeastern Ontario.[5]
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Early variable message signs included static signs with words that would illuminate (often using neon tubing) indicating the type of incident that occurred, or signs that used rotating prisms (trilons) to change the message being displayed. These were later replaced by dot matrix displays typically using eggcrate, fiber optic, or flip-disc technology, which were capable of displaying a much wider range of messages than earlier static variable message signs. Since the late s, the most common technology used in new installations for variable message signs are LED displays. In recent years, some newer LED variable message signs have the ability to display colored text and graphics.
Dot-matrix variable message signs are divided into three subgroups: character matrix, row matrix, and full matrix. In a character matrix VMS, each character is given its own matrix with equal horizontal spacing between them, typically with two or three rows of characters. In a full matrix VMS, the entire sign is a single large dot matrix display, allowing the display of different fonts and graphics. A row matrix VMS is a hybrid of the two types, divided into two or three rows like a character matrix display, except each row is a single long dot matrix display instead of being split per character horizontally.
Overhead variable message signs are today available in three form factors: front access, rear access, and walk-in. In a front access variable message sign, maintenance is performed by lifting the sign open from the front. Most smaller VMS are of the front access form factor, and are typically installed today on major arterials. The rear access form factor is similar to the front access form factor, except that maintenance is performed from the rear of the sign, and are commonly used for medium-sized dynamic message signs installed along the roadside of freeways (instead of overhead). The walk-in form factor is a more recent introduction, where maintenance on the sign is performed from the inside of the sign. A key advantage of the walk-in form factor is that lane closures are generally not required to perform maintenance on the sign. Most of the largest VMS units installed today are walk-in units, and are typically installed overhead on freeways. [citation needed]
The NJ Turnpike Authority counts five unique types of variable message signs under its jurisdiction, at least one of which has been replaced by newer signs.[6] They are:
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A variable-message sign.Early models required an operator to be physically present when programming a message, whereas newer models may be reprogrammed remotely via a wired or wireless network or cellphone connection.[citation needed]
A complete message on a panel generally includes a problem statement indicating incident, roadwork, stalled vehicle etc.; a location statement indicating where the incident is located; an effect statement indicating lane closure, delay, etc. and an action statement giving suggestion what to do traffic conditions ahead. These signs are also used for Amber alert messages, and in some states, Silver and Blue Alert messages.
In some places, VMSes are set up with permanent, semi-static displays indicating predicted travel times to important traffic destinations such as major cities or interchanges along the route of a highway.
Typical messages provide the following information:
The information comes from a variety of traffic monitoring and surveillance systems. It is expected that by providing real-time information on special events on the oncoming road, VMS can improve motorists' route selection, reduce travel time, mitigate the severity and duration of incidents and improve the performance of the transportation network.
Temporary advisory speed limit of 50 mph.
End of temporary restrictions.
Lane 2 is closed ahead.
Lane 2 and 3 are closed ahead.
Lane 1 is closed ahead.
Lane 1 is closed ahead.
Leave the motorway at the next junction.
Both lanes are closed.*
All three lanes are closed.*
All 4 lanes are closed.*
Risk of ice ahead.
Risk of Fog ahead
Do not use the lane below the signal.
* Do not enter the motorway when the red lamps are flashing in pairs from side to side.
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Increasingly, signs have been used to remind drivers to buckle seat belts ("Click it or ticket"), obey the speed limit, and stay off the road if impaired ("Drive sober or get pulled over").[7] In a federal study, a slight majority of drivers reported that public safety messages on dynamic message signs impacted their driving behaviors.[8]
The Ohio Department of Transportation began using humorous dynamic message signs in , perplexing some drivers.[7] Examples[7][9][10][11][12][13][14] of humorous signs seen in New Jersey, Arizona, Texas, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Iowa, New York, Minnesota and Ohio include:
In , concerns that these messages were distracting drivers led the Federal Highway Administration to strongly discourage signs with "obscure meanings, references to pop culture" or humor.[12]
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Trailer-mounted VMS in central London, EnglandTruck-mounted VMSes (also called Portable Changeable Message Signs or PCMS) are sometimes dispatched by highway agencies such as Caltrans to warn traffic of incidents such as accidents in areas where permanent VMSes are not available or near enough as a preventive measure for reducing secondary accidents. They are often deployed in pairs so that the second VMS truck can take over when the traffic queue overtakes the first truck, requiring the first truck to reposition further upstream from the queue, to be effective. An optional third truck, the team leader, may be utilized for driving by and monitoring the incident itself, traffic patterns and delay times, to make strategic decisions for minimizing delays&#;analogous to spotter planes used in fighting forest fires.
Trailer-mounted variable-message signs are used to alter traffic patterns near work zones, and for traffic management for special events, natural disasters, and other temporary traffic patterns. The messages displayed on the sign can be programmed locally on the unit's control panel, or units equipped with a cellular modem can be programmed remotely via computer or . Most manufacturers produce trailers which comply with the National Transportation Communications for Intelligent Transportation System Protocol (NTCIP) which allows the portable trailer to be integrated with an intelligent transportation system. Trailer-mounted VMS can be equipped with radar, cameras, and other sensing devices as part of a smart work zone deployment..
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A variable-message sign figures significantly into the plot of the film L.A. Story.
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