It’s no joke. Humorous and quirky messages on electronic signs will soon disappear from highways and freeways across the country.
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has given states two years to implement all the changes outlined in its new 1,100-page manual released last month, including rules that spells out how signs and other traffic control devices are regulated.
Administration officials said overhead electronic signs with obscure meanings, references to pop culture or those intended to be funny will be banned in 2026 because they can be misunderstood or distracting to drivers.
If this is distracting, so are ads: Ban them too!
Fuck Billboards and 50 ft tall signs.
They completely ruin natural scenery.
But don’t you want to know that every child is a gift from God and abortion is MURDER?
Are those a thing outside the south? Because as soon as you pass through mid Virginia and pass the giant confederate flag, BOOM. Jesus Jesus jesus
I’ve enjoyed these kinds of signs here in NJ. They’re no more distracting than billboards and actually get safety messages across better through humor. I think this is a bad idea.
Billboards should be banned for being a distraction and taking up mind space
This is why I close my eyes when I drive, so they can’t force the billboards into my brain.
I could get behind that, but I was more pointing out the hypocrisy rather than endorsing billboards
I can see how someone whose first language isn’t English could have a hard time telling if an official sign is an important message or a humorous one. That’s not an issue for billboards because those never have important information.
It’s not hypocrisy because the signs they’re talking about are not in the same places as billboards. There are regulations about how far back billboards have to be. The signs in question here are the ones that are actually over the road or literally on the side of it, not 20 yards back.
And part of the reason that they don’t let billboards just hover literally over top of the roads is because they’re distracting. Signage that is on the road needs to have an official purpose and convey information that is relevant to the driver, and that information has to be delivered in a simple, uniform, and clear manner.
If humorous signs are too big of a distraction, billboards should also be banned.
There’s an electronic billboard in my town that suddenly becomes visible as you go around a curve in a highway with a complicated exit at the end. Accidents happen there all the time and I think the momentary distraction of the billboard changing at that critical point is part of the reason why.
Stop right there criminal scum!
Someone in the federal govt has too much time on their hands. Advertising studies have shown that these are the kinds of messages you need on “billboards” to attract attention and improve retention.
So what? I don’t give a shit what advertisers think they need to increase their profit.
“Why are you trying to have the federal government come in and tell us what we can do in our own state? Prime example that the federal government is not focusing on what they need to be.”
