PHOENIX (NEWSnet/AP) — Humorous and quirky messages on electronic signs will disappear from highways and freeways.
U.S. Federal Highway Administration has given states two years to implement changes outlined in its manual, released in December 2023, including rules for how signs and other traffic control devices are regulated.
Administration officials said overhead electronic signs with obscure meanings, references to pop culture or those intended to be funny will be banned in 2026, because displays can be misunderstood or distracting to drivers.
The agency, which is part of U.S. Department of Transportation, said signs should be “simple, direct, brief, legible and clear” and be used only for important information. Relevant messages include, warning drivers of crashes, adverse weather conditions and traffic delays.
Reminders and warnings about use of seat belts, danger of speeding and driving while impaired also are allowed.
Among those that will be disappearing are messages such as “Use Yah Blinkah” (Massachusetts); “Visiting in-laws? Slow down, get there late” (Ohio); “Don’t drive star-spangled Hammered,” (Pennsylvania); “Hocus pocus, drive with focus” (New Jersey); and “Hands on the wheel, not your meal” (Arizona).
Arizona has more than 300 electronic signs above its highways. For the past seven years, the state’s Department of Transportation has held a contest to find the funniest and most-creative messages.
Anyone could submit ideas, drawing more than 3,700 entries in last year’s contest. The winners were “Seat belts always pass a vibe check” and “I’m just a sign asking drivers to use turn signals.”
“The humor part of it, we kind of like,” state Rep. David Cook told Phoenix TV station CBS 5. “I think in Arizona the majority of us do, if not all of us.
Cook doesn’t understand the fuss.
"Why are you trying to have the federal government come in and tell us what we can do in our own state? Prime example that the federal government is not focusing on what they need to be.”
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