Hacker News Reader

Comment by lubujackson | Hacker News Reader

I really hate signs like this.

I expect to be reading an important alert about an exit closure or upcoming road construction but instead end up having to parse some inane quip about buckling my seatbelt.

It feels like a misuse of attention that would be better served by letting drivers keep their eyes on the road.

View on HN

Same. I'm in Illinois so I've seen these exact messages they mention in the article. I'm almost being trained not to look at it anymore, because I assume it'll be something dumb. Apparently it works for some people though. My wife usually goes out of her way to read them, I know.

As a counter data point, I fairly enjoy alerts like these. Whether you like them or not is quite subjective. If it was a really serious distracted driving issue, then the entire billboard industry likely wouldn't exist.

Billboards next to highways are illegal in many countries.

That's for aesthetic reasons though.

Maybe. But it also seriously helps to avoid being distracted. I live in Seattle and drive to my parents house in Vegas, almost always driving I-90 -> I-82 -> I-84 -> I-15. Washington is great. Hardly any billboards. Oregon and Idaho are about the same. Driving through Utah is awful. Billboards everywhere some of them are brightly lit and flashing. I feel much more distracted by them.

Your anger should be trained more towards the incessant static signage on our roadways. It's really jarring when you travel around to find how obsessive we are about putting up a metal sign for every possible thing. It's like that Simpsons episode where Homer starts lobbying for signs for everything, and pretty soon there are signs saying things like "sign ahead".

These are overhead signs that are indeed used for traffic and construction alerts. They show the quirky messages alternating with travel times during normal operation.

I love the billboards that say, "better left unread, than dead" Maybe billboards should all go away?

Tend to agree. Worst one I've ever seen in a VMS is something like "Province's governor <Name> wishes you merry christmas". (Not in the US).

Sounds like it's time to start thinking about what car culture in the US actually is if we need to resort to stuff like this.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com