Not only are these signs not that funny, but they're likely to be confusing to lots of people -- immigrants, the elderly, those who aren't up on pop culture and have no idea that it's a nod to a Beyoncé song. Road signs should be clear and direct.
Traffic officials should save their lame attempts at humor for their social media accounts.
And honestly, a little humour shouldn't be worrying.
“Immigrants” aren’t stupid, and despite what some might think, do have the full ability to engage in normal human behaviors like humor.
Edit: I think some of you are confused about this story. This has nothing to do with the normal road signs that are meant to be used for navigation etc. These are things which are usually blank, and sometimes turned on for information about road construction or things like that: https://www.kbtx.com/2024/01/17/no-joke-feds-are-banning-fun...
Some people in the DOT realized they could put something kind of funny on them to encourage people to do stuff like wear their seatbelts, or not speed, or put messages discouraging drunk driving.
Sure, nobody is saying they are here. What we are saying is that it can be likely that it would take someone who is ESL more time to parse humor or a joke, or the elderly, or even those with English as a first language. That time is best _not_ spent while you're operating a multi thousand pound weapon down a highway at 70MPH, where reaction times are a must and this is distracting.
Traffic signs have a very short time to be seen and recognized; you want every aspect of it including partial readings to be as correct as you can.
> “Immigrants” aren’t stupid, and despite what some might think, do have the full ability to engage in normal human behaviors like humor.
Nobody's saying they're stupid or don’t have a sense of humor, just that they may not have the cultural prerequisites to immediately understand certain jokes. Especially in a medium that is terrible for telling jokes.
I really do not care about your stupid local humor while driving. I do not follow TV or pop music. I do not get the "references". The same way you would not get Chinese humour.
> "To the left, to the left / Passing only in the lane to the left."
I would probably read only the first part, and assume right lane is closed. Or even worse, I would be like "oh shit they drive like in UK"!!!!
Imigrants are not stupid, people who listen to Beyonce are!
If you can’t parse the difference between “collision ahead” and “use yah blinkah”, then you shouldn’t be driving at all.
“Immigrants” are not uniquely unable to parse these things.
About 1.5 billion people drive on left (India, UK, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia....). Road sign "to the left" has VERY important meaning for big part of globe. Some people travel a lot and change left/right driving a few times every month..
But perhaps Beyonce songs and American pop culture, should be part of driving exams globally! So everyone can parse your "funny" jokes.
The people writing these messages are part of the DOT. Not surprisingly they already think of this stuff. They’re not stupid.
At least those seem to be additional signs, they add some information, they don't provide main/mandatory/security information.
But something that keeps drivers’ eyes on the road is safer. It’s a trade off: a minor increase in excitement for a minor decrease in safety
Same reason I dislike google doodles; not only am I not up on pop culture, I very much don’t want to be.
"I don't own a TV"
Google doodles are hardly "pop culture"; they often honour scientists, artists etc. The point is to raise awareness. Seems like a strange thing to outwardly "dislike".
It really isn't.
- What is "right of way"?
- Would a Beyoncé reference confuse you while driving?