PHOENIX — "Drive like the person your dog thinks you are."
"Cut off? Don't get bad blood. Shake it off."
"Hands on the wheel, not your meal."
Messages like these have brought joy to drivers across Arizona for years.
The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) has even gone viral for several of them, which have referenced holidays, concerts, movies, sporting events and much more. However, those messages will be disappearing due to new rules issued by the Federal Highway Administration (FHA).
The FHWA released a new manual in December that tells states how signs and other traffic control devices are regulated. One of those rules refers to "changeable message signs," or CMS, which are the electronic signs that Arizona uses to display the funny messages, along with travel times, traffic alerts and more.
Section 2L.07, which refers to traffic safety campaign messages, states that ADOT will no longer be able to display funny messages.
"A CMS should not be used to display a traffic safety campaign message if doing so could adversely affect respect for the sign," the rule reads. "Messages with obscure or secondary meanings, such as those with popular culture references, unconventional sign legend syntax, or that are intended to be humorous, should not be used as they might be misunderstood or understood only by a limited segment of road users and require greater time to process and understand."
This also means ADOT's annual safety message contest will likely come to an end. ADOT has been running the contest, which allowed anyone to submit their ideas for a fun traffic message, for the past seven years. In 2023, 3,700 entries were submitted. The winning phrases were "Seatbelts always pass the vibe check" and "I'm just a sign asking a driver to use turn signals."
According to Section 1B.02 of the manual, states have two years to come into compliance with any new rules.
This comes about nine months after Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed House Bill 2586, which looked to limit the types of phrases that could be used on Dynamic Message Signs, which is how the state refers to CMS.
Drivers in Arizona will also stop seeing Silver Alerts on the changeable message signs on the freeway as Section 2L.02 of the FHWA manual states, "Types of 'alert' messages other than AMBER alerts that are unrelated to traffic or travel conditions shall not be displayed on CMS."
ADOT released a statement to 12News saying, "The new edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) was released on Dec. 19 and we’re in the process of reviewing it. We don't have anything additional to share at this time."
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