This applies to federalism and highway policy, among other things.
Can the national government tell he states what type of signage they can use on interstate highways? The answer is almost certainly yes.
- Click here for the article.
Last month, the Federal Highway Administration released new guidance about traffic-safety signs, urging officials to avoid humor and pop-culture references that might confuse drivers. The guidelines in the 1,161-page Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways took effect Thursday, but federal officials are giving state agencies two years to adopt them. After days of confusion and outcry, federal officials on Thursday clarified that while the manual dictates that signs should be “simple, direct, brief, legible and clear,” it doesn’t prohibit them from being funny.
“The new edition does not include a ban on humor or pop culture references on changeable message signs,” an administration spokesperson said in an email. “Rather, it includes a recommendation to avoid the use of humor and pop culture references in changeable message signs that may confuse or distract drivers.”
“The new edition does not include a ban on humor or pop culture references on changeable message signs,” an administration spokesperson said in an email. “Rather, it includes a recommendation to avoid the use of humor and pop culture references in changeable message signs that may confuse or distract drivers.”
. . . The scientific research of humorous traffic-safety signs is mixed.
Tripp Shealy, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Virginia Tech, has studied how drivers respond to messages that employ humor or reference pop culture. He found that they usually thought the signs were effective and were rarely concerned about their appropriateness.
It’s more difficult to figure out if the message changed behavior, he told The Post last year. His researchers hooked 300 people to brain wave monitors to understand their responses to signs such as “Don’t let your tailgate end with a cell mate” and “Texting while driving? Oh cell no.” The results suggested that messages using jokes or wordplay sparked more brain activity.
“I think that’s why DOTs are using them, because they command more attention and drivers notice them,” Shealy said.
- Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.
- Wikipedia: Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.
Terminology
highways
Ohio Department of Transportation
spokesman
Federal Highway Administration
recommendation
federal guidelines
traffic safety manager
Colorado Department of Transportation
highway signs
traffic and safety engineer
Iowa Department of Transportation
civil and environmental engineering
The National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board
