New Jersey Advised To Cease Cute, Inventive Highway Signal Security Messages

The New Jersey Division of Transportation’s plan to enliven commutes with cutesy highway signal messages has ended. The Federal Freeway Administration (FHWA) has ordered the state to cease posting its inventive security messages to its 215 digital alert indicators situated all through the state.

The division started posting inventive messages in October to get drivers’ consideration about varied highway security measures. New Jersey DOT’s press supervisor Stephen Schapiro advised The Philadelphia Inquirer that the FHWA instructed the division to stop posting the inventive security messages. FHWA reps didn’t clarify to the publication why it advised the state to cease; nevertheless, the federal company stated that it was conscious of the indicators and reached out to the DOT.

The inventive security messages embrace bangers like:

• “We’ll be blunt – do not drive excessive.”
• “Maintain onto your butts – assist stop forest fires.”
• “Good automobile – did it include a flip sign?”
• “Get your head out of your apps.”
• “Hocus pocus, drive with focus.”

States across the nation are combating a rise in crashes, and New Jersey is not the one one getting inventive as a strategy to attain drivers. In line with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Utah, Delaware, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and others have all printed equally inventive messages to their digital alert indicators.

Final 12 months, visitors deaths rose to a 16-year excessive, with an estimated 42,915 individuals dying in motorized vehicle visitors crashes final 12 months, a ten.5 p.c enhance over 2021. Site visitors deaths in 2022 had been barely up via the 12 months’s first half, however proof suggests they’re starting to say no for the primary time since 2020. Automobile fatalities in New Jersey are up 11 to 618 in comparison with 2021.

In a prophetic tweet final month, the New Jersey DOT requested drivers to cease taking photos of the inventive indicators. “It is very harmful and defeats the message we’re making an attempt to drive dwelling,” the company tweeted. The submit included a meme of a cat sitting at a automobile’s steering wheel with a displeased look. The meme threateningly advised drivers that the outdated messages would return in the event that they did not cease. The federal authorities determined to step in, although.