Bon voyage: These quirky Texas highway signs may be a thing of the past

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As holiday travel swings into high gear each December, motorists across Texas likely notice another change on roadways besides heavier traffic.
“Only Rudolph should drive lit,” an electronic message board flashed at drivers in the Dallas area in 2019.
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“Drink and drive and yule be sorry,” read another.
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The safety messages, created by Texas Department of Transportation staff in Austin, sometimes incorporate pop culture references and on-the-nose humor. That could change, though, thanks to a new set of guidelines adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration in December. The guidelines advise transportation agencies to avoid quips that might confuse and distract drivers.
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Whether those guidelines will lead to changes to Texas signs is unclear. Funny signs are not discouraged, a federal highway representative told KERA News – just those that could leave drivers scratching their heads.
Texas highway signs 6 images View Gallery
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TxDOT has long said that even its lighthearted messages are crafted with clarity and distraction-free driving in mind. “Load and clear” messaging are at the heart of all the agency’s road communications, a spokesperson told The Dallas Morning News in 2019.
“Our message board signs along Texas highways are a great tool to show important safety information to drivers,” TxDOT said last week in a statement about the changes. “Every message we post includes a safety component and we will continue to do that.”
The agency declined to respond to follow-up questions about its policies regarding highway messages and deferred to its statement.
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If agencies like TxDOT are looking to the federal government’s 2024 signs for guidance, they’ll find more sobering messages are in the works. While Thanksgiving has given way to festive safety reminders like “Gobble gobble, go easy on the throttle” in Texas, federal highway signs planned for November and December are the same straightforward messages drivers will see throughout the year.
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“Drive sober or get pulled over” and “buzzed driving is drunk driving” are among those used most by the federal agency, according to its 2024 calendar.

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