monday's mulling: highway signs

For the past six months, most of our highway driving has been in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. If we go father away from this tri-state area, we fly. When we drive, T usually is in the driver’s seat and I get to enjoy the scenery, taking photos, and noticing the witty billboards and highway signs.

Some highway signs crack jokes, use puns, or riff off Taylor Swift lyrics to remind drivers to be safe.

We need to enjoy them while we can.

The Federal Highway Administration has ordered all 50 states to stop putting messages on electronic signs that "are intended to be humorous," reference pop culture, or could overall "adversely affect respect for the sign.”

The new federal manual offers a few examples of language that would be acceptable for highway safety messaging under its standards, such as "No hand-held phone by driver" or "State law fasten seat belts."

Instead, safety messages on changeable signs should be "simple, direct, brief, legible, and clear," the agency said in a 1100-page manual published in December. (1100 pages for a manual on signs?)

The new standards went into effect on January 18, but states have two years to adopt them. As a passenger I’ve enjoyed the signs. They break the monotony of the drive. I appreciate the creativity that went into these attention grabbers and will miss them when they’re gone.

To be continued tomorrow with an eye-catching billboard...