Grim messages on signs/VMSs

[MisterSG1]

I'm not sure if such a topic exists, but as I came in on the Gardiner this morning, I noticed this grim but catchy message that rhymes on a VMS:



I know Ontario in some spots has "Fatigue Kills Take A BreaK" in some spots (or do they even still have those signs), but I've honestly never seen the message I saw today before.

[Max Rockatansky]

CALTRANs had something like that up the other day and it was catchy too.  I can't find it on the state map right now because they are doing a bunch of "minor crash? pull to the shoulder" for some reason today.

Edit:  This one isn't a VMS but always was kind of morbid down on US 1 in Florida:

https://www.google.com/maps/@24.575045,-81.7331158,3a,75y,180h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCA21RK27HiH6G4-OdRE4Dg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

[Brandon]

How about the death count that some DOTs maintain?  Yeah, IDOT, I'm looking at you.

[Jardine]

Burma-Shave did not shy away from graphic imagery:

Don't lose
Your head
To gain a minute
You need your head
Your brains are in it

[noelbotevera]

Great, now all they need is a brain and to realize the fact that speed does not kill! (some VMS messages say that, but I can't get a photo and the VMS that does say that is off or has another message on GSV. It was something along the lines of "FOLLOW THE SPEED LIMIT OR DIE".)

[Pete from Boston]

This sign was good enough that I've posted about it in reference to numerous subjects over the years.  On Comm. Ave. in Allston, Mass., around 1998, an orange construction sign read:

                NOTICE

     FROM 7 AM to 10 AM

          you may be fired.

We apologize for the inconvenience.


If I recall correctly, by the time I got back to photograph it, the stodgy old authorities had taken it down.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

How about the death count that some DOTs maintain?  Yeah, IDOT, I'm looking at you.

TXDot and WISDot are both doing this too that I have seen in the last several months.

[MisterSG1]

A death count that comes to mind around here exists on Airport Road just north of the Peel Region/Dufferin County boundary at Hwy 9. I copied this from StreetView:

[cl94]

How about the death count that some DOTs maintain?  Yeah, IDOT, I'm looking at you.

TXDot and WISDot are both doing this too that I have seen in the last several months.

A few DOTs post the death count on Facebook every few days. IDOT does it the most.

[GaryV]

Michigan has been posting death counts, and telling us that it's xx more than in 2015.

[Jardine]

Posting the death counts seems a little anti-Darwinian to me . . .

[pumpkineater2]

Arizona did this recently. The signs said:

          891 traffic deaths
               last year
            1 is too many

Today the signs said either:

    Spring breakers:
  Does Mom approve
     of your driving?


or

     Spring breakers:
       slow your roll
        Arrive alive
               

[MisterSG1]

Pretty cool, at least it's a contrast to what the MTO posts, which when they aren't reporting an issue, they will often post messages that could be considered "political" or based on social engineering, like this one I took in May 2013 and was about the make a huge rant about but I didn't:



GTA VMSs in non peak times generally show messages to discourage driving, like "Try Carpooling".

[noelbotevera]

Using grim messages as a way to cut down on deaths is something menial and does not aid astute drivers.

[steviep24]

Today all the NYSDOT VMSes in the Rochester, NY area read:

                         STAY AWAKE
                         STAY ALIVE

I'm assuming this is being done state wide.

[cl94]

Today all the NYSDOT VMSes in the Rochester, NY area read:

                         STAY AWAKE
                         STAY ALIVE

I'm assuming this is being done state wide.

Earlier this afternoon, Region 1's signs were showing travel times. No different from any other day.

[wanderer2575]

Burma-Shave did not shy away from graphic imagery:

Don't lose
Your head
To gain a minute
You need your head
Your brains are in it

Hardly a driver
Is now alive
Who passed
On hills
At 75

Past
Schoolhouses
Take it slow
Let the little
Shavers grow

At crossroads
Don't just
Trust to luck
The other car
May be a truck

Don't pass cars
On curve or hill
If the cops
Don't get you
Morticians will

Brother speeders
Let's
Rehearse
All together
"Good morning nurse!"

Drove too long
Driver snoozing
What happened next
Is not
Amusing

Don't stick
Your elbow
Out so far
It might go home
In another car

Car in ditch
Driver in tree
Moon was full
And so
Was he

[vdeane]

Today all the NYSDOT VMSes in the Rochester, NY area read:

                         STAY AWAKE
                         STAY ALIVE

I'm assuming this is being done state wide.

It's part of a campaign against tired driving.

[roadman]

Burma-Shave did not shy away from graphic imagery:

Don't lose
Your head
To gain a minute
You need your head
Your brains are in it

Hardly a driver
Is now alive
Who passed
On hills
At 75

Past
Schoolhouses
Take it slow
Let the little
Shavers grow

At crossroads
Don't just
Trust to luck
The other car
May be a truck

Don't pass cars
On curve or hill
If the cops
Don't get you
Morticians will

Brother speeders
Let's
Rehearse
All together
"Good morning nurse!"

Drove too long
Driver snoozing
What happened next
Is not
Amusing

Don't stick
Your elbow
Out so far
It might go home
In another car

Car in ditch
Driver in tree
Moon was full
And so
Was he

And let us not forget:

The midnight ride
of Paul
For beer
Led to
A warmer
hemisphere

(this message got Burma Shave in serious trouble with beer distributors across the country and was quickly removed)

[Bruce]

Pretty cool, at least it's a contrast to what the MTO posts, which when they aren't reporting an issue, they will often post messages that could be considered "political" or based on social engineering, like this one I took in May 2013 and was about the make a huge rant about but I didn't:



GTA VMSs in non peak times generally show messages to discourage driving, like "Try Carpooling".

Well, given that the MTO/DOT is a transportation dept. (covering all modes), they have incentive to want to reduce road congestion and encourage alternative modes.

There's no harm in advertising carpooling, transit, or bike-to-work-day programs (the last one is a real non-issue).

I'd love it if WSDOT, during off-peak hours, had VMSes that did this. Driving into SeaTac? A VMS should read "Next time, take light rail from downtown Seattle" or something to discourage frequent (or infrequent) travelers from always driving in.

[MisterSG1]

But it's not that simple. Sure, I could drive all the way downtown myself when I commute in every day, but the fact exists is that there are easy alternatives for the most part. Such as the GO Train (which is a commuter train) or driving to a subway station. But what you need to understand, is that not everything lies in simple convenience for transit options.

Someone from Brampton who worked in say Scarborough, for instance I had a friend who didn't drive and worked at the Toronto Zoo which is way on the eastern border of Toronto, and it took him nearly 3 hours to go across the GTA from west to east. On occasion I picked him up from the zoo, and well we made it back in 30 minutes.

I have tried many commuting options to go downtown, but for me to eliminate vehicle use from my commute would make my trip significantly longer. When you consider the awful coordination between GO Trains and local transit here in Brampton, and let's not mention that to go 15 miles by GO Train from my usual stop costs me over $6.25 a trip. When i get downtown, I can take the subway by paying an addition $2.90, or I can walk a whole mile to where I'm going. Obviously, it seems cost efficient if one picks up two riders along the way and goes downtown, something I've been experimenting with lately.

As well Toronto's subway is nearly at capacity, it's not wise to add more riders to the system if there's not an expanded system to move more people around. So what is needed, more subway lines, something they don't want to build here whatsoever because of cost they always say. When one subway line gets too crowded and you can't really do anything else, you build a new subway line to take relief off the original one, does this sound familiar folks, when one freeway can't be expanded anymore, you build a new freeway. But building any new freeways now in any metro area is the equivalent nowadays of dropping raw sewage into the river.

The obese man and belt analogy suggests that being a larger city is inherently bad in the first place, that's why that argument does not hold any water.

The point is, those VMSs are supposed to display messages related to traffic, not to show messages to social engineer the population. That's not to mention how cyclists get a free pass to basically break all laws set out by the Ontario Highway Traffic Act, seriously, stand in any corner in downtown Toronto and count how many illegal moves you see cyclists make. A damn cyclist once when I was driving southbound on Jarvis, I had a green light, and a cyclist made a right turn from a red light completely cutting me off, I gave him the horn, and yet he had the nerve to give me the body language that I WAS THE PROBLEM. This attitude is prevalent with cyclists downtown and perhaps everywhere, and that's why so many hate them.

That's not to mention the additional hassle of right turning when a bike lane exists to the right of you. Not only do you have to watch for pedestrians and traffic when making the right on red, but be sure you don't block that bike lane by turning your ahead completely back before making the turn.

The Queen Streetcar route is one of the longest streetcar routes in the world, it's about 24km or 15 miles long, it takes the streetcar an incredible 93 minutes to complete the route in ideal conditions. I'm not exactly sure why North American cities want to bring these snails back, they are glorified bus routes on rails, there are nothing special about these. And for those who idealize the Red Car in Los Angeles (which was famously portrayed in Who Framed Roger Rabbit), the flexibility to get around without having to rely on strict schedules, and routes that require multiple transfers to where you are going. And with that extremely slow streetcar line, I could drive between those two points hypothetical, even during the worst of traffic times in nearly half the time.

[Bruce]

The "cyclists breaking laws" argument has been used time and time again and been disproven at every step. If you wanted to use a few law-breaking assholes to vilify any group, we'd be banning cars because a lot of drivers are breaking traffic laws, ranging from distracted driving (on their phones and taking pictures from their dashboard...tsk tsk) to running red lights and nearly hitting people.

[noelbotevera]

The "cyclists breaking laws" argument has been used time and time again and been disproven at every step. If you wanted to use a few law-breaking assholes to vilify any group, we'd be banning cars because a lot of drivers are breaking traffic laws, ranging from distracted driving (on their phones and taking pictures from their dashboard...tsk tsk) to running red lights and nearly hitting people.

If we're breaking the law by taking pictures from the dashboard, then why are we roadgeeks?

Anyways, the reason why we break the laws here is that they're completely draconian. I hate having to wait behind a stopped school bus at a bus stop, can't I just pass the thing? Also, how does paint dictate passing? I want to get ahead of this grandma!

[MisterSG1]

The "cyclists breaking laws" argument has been used time and time again and been disproven at every step. If you wanted to use a few law-breaking assholes to vilify any group, we'd be banning cars because a lot of drivers are breaking traffic laws, ranging from distracted driving (on their phones and taking pictures from their dashboard...tsk tsk) to running red lights and nearly hitting people.

Are you assuming that I took that picture, the truth is I didn't, so I was not breaking the law. As for running red lights, I am not defending that, but for how few cyclists you see on the road, you see them break a lot of laws. Here's a few case in points, if you want me to actually film videos of cyclist behavior, I can.

Yonge and Dundas in Toronto has a pedestrian scramble, where all lights are red and pedestrians can cross diagonally. Nearly every day I will cyclists jump ahead at this intersection by riding through the pedestrians and not giving a crap whatsoever. That's not to mention that turns are restricted at this intersection, and yup, you'll see bicycles making turns.

Two streets here at Ryerson have been closed permanently for vehicular traffic, there are even signs that say "PEDESTRIAN ZONE", and I've been nearly hit by cyclists many of times, as I walk across the road without looking (why should I have to, the street is closed to traffic), another time on one of the one ways, I looked the direction that traffic comes, and crossed the road, I was nearly hit head on by a cyclist plowing across the road going the wrong way.

Sure everyone is bound to make an improper lane change here and there, but I've encountered much more problems the times I drive downtown with cyclists than other drivers, it's that simple, and even as a pedestrian, I have had many issues with cyclists, and the police NEVER enforce laws against cyclists.

[Pete from Boston]

The "cyclists breaking laws" argument has been used time and time again and been disproven at every step. If you wanted to use a few law-breaking assholes to vilify any group, we'd be banning cars because a lot of drivers are breaking traffic laws, ranging from distracted driving (on their phones and taking pictures from their dashboard...tsk tsk) to running red lights and nearly hitting people.

If we're breaking the law by taking pictures from the dashboard, then why are we roadgeeks?

Anyways, the reason why we break the laws here is that they're completely draconian. I hate having to wait behind a stopped school bus at a bus stop, can't I just pass the thing? Also, how does paint dictate passing? I want to get ahead of this grandma!

So, I get that you're not serious. But do remember when you attempt to obtain a drivers license (note that I said "attempt") in some jurisdictions passing a stopped school bus is one of the most severely penalized violations there is.