Most absurd VMS messages

[Duke87]

DelDOT did this last weekend:



And this past week IDOT had this going:

[jbnv]

LaDOTD today: "THAT'S THE TEMPERATURE, NOT THE SPEED LIMIT"   

[Big John]

Not sure if this is real or photoshopped

[MCRoads]

how do you make those signs??

[hotdogPi]

how do you make those signs??

Quote someone who made one of those signs, and change the message. Remember that all spaces need to be "%20".

[MCRoads]

What i wish DOTs would say:



I.E.



However, they don't, so... oh well.

[Pink Jazz]

Turns out the FDS Sylvia fiber optic signs were NOT the first DMS used by ADOT.  On Facebook there is a B&W photo from 1987 of a two-line row matrix flip-dot DMS on I-17 with this message:

CARPOOLS SAVE
GAS & MONEY

The FDS Sylvia signs I think first went up in 1993 and were installed until 2007 when ADOT switched to the Daktronics LED signs that were installed from 2007-2012.  Then ADOT went with Skyline full matrix LED signs from 2012-2017, and now ADOT went back to Daktronics with color LED signs since 2017.

[inkyatari]

Anyone remember what the message was on the Chicago area VMS's this morning? It was really stupid.

I only remember the first line..

"Aruba, Jamaica..."

[jbnv]

Anyone remember what the message was on the Chicago area VMS's this morning? It was really stupid.

I only remember the first line..

"Aruba, Jamaica..."

That's the start to the chorus of "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys.

[roadman]

Anyone remember what the message was on the Chicago area VMS's this morning? It was really stupid.

I only remember the first line..

"Aruba, Jamaica..."

That's the start to the chorus of "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys.

"Way down in Chi-cahh-goooooo"

[inkyatari]

Anyone remember what the message was on the Chicago area VMS's this morning? It was really stupid.

I only remember the first line..

"Aruba, Jamaica..."

That's the start to the chorus of "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys.

I know.  It was just very stupid. Something about buckling your seatbelt, if I recall.

[Brandon]

Anyone remember what the message was on the Chicago area VMS's this morning? It was really stupid.

I only remember the first line..

"Aruba, Jamaica..."

That's the start to the chorus of "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys.

I know.  It was just very stupid. Something about buckling your seatbelt, if I recall.

That's OK, IDiOT had a PSA about stopping for pedestrians in crosswalks on the freeway VMSs.  Name a freeway or tollway here with a pedestrian crosswalk.

[inkyatari]

Anyone remember what the message was on the Chicago area VMS's this morning? It was really stupid.

I only remember the first line..

"Aruba, Jamaica..."

That's the start to the chorus of "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys.

I know.  It was just very stupid. Something about buckling your seatbelt, if I recall.

That's OK, IDiOT had a PSA about stopping for pedestrians in crosswalks on the freeway VMSs.  Name a freeway or tollway here with a pedestrian crosswalk.

I saw that same message on the VMS on I-80 near Ottawa, IL on Saturday.

[ilpt4u]

That's OK, IDiOT had a PSA about stopping for pedestrians in crosswalks on the freeway VMSs.  Name a freeway or tollway here with a pedestrian crosswalk.

I saw that same message on the VMS on I-80 near Ottawa, IL on Saturday.

It was on the VMSs on I-64 in the STL Metro East as well over the weekend

[inkyatari]

Anyone remember what the message was on the Chicago area VMS's this morning? It was really stupid.

I only remember the first line..

"Aruba, Jamaica..."

That's the start to the chorus of "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys.

I know.  It was just very stupid. Something about buckling your seatbelt, if I recall.

Stupid

[mrsman]

Every distraction is harmful to driving.  The VMSes should only be used to tell me about an upcoming  traffic incident or how much time to an upcoming interchange.  Messages about drunk driving or seatbelts are simply unnecessary.

[inkyatari]

Every distraction is harmful to driving.  The VMSes should only be used to tell me about an upcoming  traffic incident or how much time to an upcoming interchange.  Messages about drunk driving or seatbelts are simply unnecessary.

Fully agree

[jbnv]

Ditto.

[kphoger]

Well, I was planning on driving drunk, but then I saw a VMS telling me not to.  So I decided against it.

Said no one, ever.

(mainly because no one knows what a VMS is)

[GaryV]

I read that in Michigan, MDOT gets notifications that a sign is "broken" from well-meaning drivers when there is no message.  So they always have some kind of message on them.  These aren't Pulitzer-winning authors coming up with the things to say.

[roadfro]

I read that in Michigan, MDOT gets notifications that a sign is "broken" from well-meaning drivers when there is no message.  So they always have some kind of message on them.  These aren't Pulitzer-winning authors coming up with the things to say.

I'm curious if Nevada DOT had a similar experience when they first installed VMSs. I remember for a while that many signs around Reno (and possibly Vegas also) that weren't actively displaying a message would instead light a single period in the lower right corner. Now they will leave a sign blank if there's no pertinent info, and only tend to flash up silly slogans during occasional safety campaigns. In Vegas, many VMSs display travel time when no pertinent message is needed (I-15 & US 95 don't have separate travel time signs currently.)

[frankenroad]

I read that in Michigan, MDOT gets notifications that a sign is "broken" from well-meaning drivers when there is no message.  So they always have some kind of message on them.  These aren't Pulitzer-winning authors coming up with the things to say.

I'm curious if Nevada DOT had a similar experience when they first installed VMSs. I remember for a while that many signs around Reno (and possibly Vegas also) that weren't actively displaying a message would instead light a single period in the lower right corner. Now they will leave a sign blank if there's no pertinent info, and only tend to flash up silly slogans during occasional safety campaigns. In Vegas, many VMSs display travel time when no pertinent message is needed (I-15 & US 95 don't have separate travel time signs currently.)

I think the same thing happened in Ohio.  Now, they always say something, usually it's a travel time if there is no other message and they aren't in a safety campaign.   We seem to get a lot of Amber and Silver alerts on ours.   I wonder how effective they are - it's not like you're going to memorize the plate number - you might remember the vehicle description (yesterday, it was a "GREY JEEP" but I only remember that because of the less-common spelling of the color)

Also, when the signs were normally dark (with the one period), when they did have a message, people would slow down just because the sign was lit, even if the situation was several miles away.   Now, people seem to be able to read (or ignore) them without slowing down.

[KEVIN_224]

Well, I was planning on driving drunk, but then I saw a VMS telling me not to.  So I decided against it.

Said no one, ever.

(mainly because no one knows what a VMS is)

VMS = Vodka's My Savior? 

[wanderer2575]

I read that in Michigan, MDOT gets notifications that a sign is "broken" from well-meaning drivers when there is no message.  So they always have some kind of message on them.  These aren't Pulitzer-winning authors coming up with the things to say.

Nope.  Sometime there just aren't messages.  Looking at the DMS "layer" on the mi.gov/drive website will confirm that.

A lack of Pulitzer-winning authors is another topic I won't debate.

[roadman]

Well, I was planning on driving drunk, but then I saw a VMS telling me not to.  So I decided against it.

Said no one, ever.

(mainly because no one knows what a VMS is)

VMS = Vodka's My Savior? 

We were discussing this at work the other day (no, not vodka, but message sign terminology).  Used to be VMS (variable message sign), then the term was changed to CMS (changeable message sign).  Then it was DMS (dynamic message sign) for a brief period, and it's now back to CMS again.