Missouri will still use eye-catching electronic road signs after the Federal Highway Administration discouraged obscure messaging.
Missouri will still be able to use humorous road signs- but according to the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), they need to be concise and related to safety.
According to AP News, the Federal Highway Administration recently released an updated manual that details regulations for traffic signs. It strongly discourages overhead signs with obscure meanings, references to pop culture or those intended to be funny.
Missouri has roughly 270 dynamic messaging signs throughout the state and is already meeting most other requirements.
According to Jon Nelson, the assistant to the state highway traffic engineer at MoDOT, he said there is one thing Missourians will no longer see on the signs.
“The stipulations in the guidance is that you can’t put statistics on the signs. So we used to run messages every week that would just kind of update Missourians on how many people had been killed in traffic crashes during the year. We no longer run that message,” Nelson said.
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Nelson also said that funny messages can serve a purpose for drivers.
“We try to do it in ways that will maybe resonate with people while they’re driving, stick with them as they pass the sign,” he said. “Hopefully, they remember that for a few days and if we can do that through wit and humor those are tactics that we like to use to spread that safety message.”
Nelson said the department changes messaging once a month on the signs. The signs can relate to events, like tailgating during football season. And although the signs can have funny messages, Nelson said this is not the main purpose.
“The primary purpose of the signs is to communicate urgent messages to the driver. You know, if there’s a work zone up ahead or there’s a crash ahead, the left lane is closed [of if] you need to move over to the right lane,” he said.
Nelson also reminds drivers to follow highway safety by buckling up, putting the phone down and driving sober.
