
Humorous highway signs aim to steer drivers safely - hhs
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/05/812130695/humorous-highway-signs-aim-to-steer-drivers-safely-down-the-old-town-road
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dash2
Indian signs are the classics. "go gently down my curves"... "Hurry will give
you worry"... And many more here:
[https://www.wanderlust.co.uk/content/9-funny-indian-road-
sig...](https://www.wanderlust.co.uk/content/9-funny-indian-road-signs/)

~~~
cgriswald
Redwood City, CA has actual, printed signs scattered around that say things
like:

“Traffic school is boring. Slow down.” “Speed limit 25 mph. It really won’t
hurt.” “Is today the day your speed hurts a child?” “In a hurry? A speeding
ticket will make you late!” “What don’t you understand about 25 mph?”

and maybe a dozen more. They’re actually great indicators that the city
doesn’t enforce the speed limits. Which makes the “ZERO TOLERANCE” speed sign
the funniest one.

Edit: The city of Hayward, CA has a pedestrian crossing sign that says
something to the effect of “Heads up! Cross the street, THEN update Facebook.”

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sev0
Signs are cheaper than properly-designed roads. They're safety theatre,
designed to make people feel better without actually doing anything.

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wenc
I'm in Illinois and I enjoy reading humorous signs because it takes the
monotony out of driving and makes me chuckle while navigating Chicago traffic
and helps me tolerate grumpy Chicago suburban drivers. Road construction
information etc. are still displayed so it's not either-or. Funny messages in
the past on I-55 have included:

* Han says Solo Down. Obey speed limits. (when Star Wars came out)

* Buckling up is always a good Goooooooal! (during the World Cup - soccer)

* Slowing down in Work Zones is so fetch. (when Mean Girls came out)

* OMG R U Txting? I can't even.

* Please stop taking pictures of this sign while driving

There's a website with all the current messages [1].

[1]
[https://www.travelmidwest.com/lmiga/dms.jsp?location=GATEWAY...](https://www.travelmidwest.com/lmiga/dms.jsp?location=GATEWAY.IL)

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mickdeek86
Posted at my dad's cemetery, facing a busy road in suburban River Grove IL:
"Drive carefully, we can wait"

[https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/fjAXrFcLzRE8UN4TYTGC...](https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/fjAXrFcLzRE8UN4TYTGCYQ/o.jpg)

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lubujackson
I really hate signs like this.

I expect to be reading an important alert about an exit closure or upcoming
road construction but instead end up having to parse some inane quip about
buckling my seatbelt.

It feels like a misuse of attention that would be better served by letting
drivers keep their eyes on the road.

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ahnick
As a counter data point, I fairly enjoy alerts like these. Whether you like
them or not is quite subjective. If it was a really serious distracted driving
issue, then the entire billboard industry likely wouldn't exist.

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adrianN
Billboards next to highways are illegal in many countries.

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dsfyu404ed
That's for aesthetic reasons though.

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wtdo
Maybe. But it also seriously helps to avoid being distracted. I live in
Seattle and drive to my parents house in Vegas, almost always driving I-90 ->
I-82 -> I-84 -> I-15. Washington is great. Hardly any billboards. Oregon and
Idaho are about the same. Driving through Utah is awful. Billboards everywhere
some of them are brightly lit and flashing. I feel much more distracted by
them.

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rconti
These make me so happy. It feels like the kind of humorous approach to life
I've seen in other countries, but too often the US errs too much on the side
of being cautious, of being conservative about messaging.

It just makes me warm and fuzzy inside when someone can actually use humor in
a very public way, and there isn't some stern boss telling them to stick with
the script because it's 'safer'.

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standardUser
All of these signs should just say "USE YOUR BLINKER" because most drivers in
California never do.

~~~
tejtm
In Maine (US) last fall there was;

``` PUMPKIN SPICE DRINKERS USE YOUR BLINKERS

```

this is during the time tourists drive around looking at the fall foliage

[0][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf_peeping](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf_peeping)

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wolfgang42
You can drive

A mile a minute

But there is no

Future in it

 _Burma-Shave_

~~~
kylek
[https://www.xkcd.com/491/](https://www.xkcd.com/491/)

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joezydeco
The previous messaging was a lot more serious and somewhat morbid:

[https://chicago.cbslocal.com/wp-
content/uploads/sites/151160...](https://chicago.cbslocal.com/wp-
content/uploads/sites/15116062/2013/01/road-deaths-sign-0107.jpg?w=640)

~~~
nkrisc
I saw it all the time when I was commuting out to the burbs from the city on
90. Every day when I was coming home, I always got a little excited when I saw
it had finally incremented! Then I would feel sad about it because of what
that meant. It was strange, I had some weird desire to see the number continue
to go up, apart from the clearly tragic context. In a way, quantifying it like
that kind of abstracted away the human element. As the cliche goes, those who
lost their lives became just another statistic. If they had put the name of
the last person killed, that might have driven the point home more
effectively, privacy issues aside.

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UncleEntity
They have a contest on the morning radio show semi-often when some band comes
to town for these messages in Phoenix--Bernie's in town later today so they
would put up something like "feel the bern, use signals to turn" (though don't
think they do political ones for obvious reasons).

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sigmaprimus
With legalization in Canada there have been several "Funny" don't drive high
tv adds. Strange thing is I don't every recall seeing a funny don't drive
drunk commercial.

I guess it's just less funny when you crash and kill someone after a few
drinks.

~~~
westmeal
Well cannabis and alcohol are two way different beasts. It is true that both
reduce your reaction times, but cannabis doesn't really mess too much with
your motor skills. Obviously this depends on dosage and other factors and you
really shouldn't drive high or drunk but I'd rather have someone drive me
somewhere high than drunk. Alcohol makes you think you're hot shit and
invincible which is extremely dangerous behind the wheel.

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nineumbrellas
In the Boston area, these signs typically have some variation of "USE YAH
BLINKAH"

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sp332
Be careful, or be roadkill!
[https://imgur.com/a/kBQtJVJ](https://imgur.com/a/kBQtJVJ)

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Vysero
Um, "humorous" might be a bit of a stretch.

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sev0
It's safety theatre. Signs don't work, properly-designed roads work. But signs
are cheaper and make it possible to continue to live a sprawling life in
suburbia, so.

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njharman
> sacrifices the company’s well-known identity

Challenge author to find any person who is unable to correctly attribute new
logo to BMW but can do so with the old logo.

~~~
a_t48
Wrong topic :)

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huebomont
Love to force distracted driving!

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vangelis
MODOT did it first.

