AMES, IA (
CBS2/FOX28) --
The call to practice safe driving habits is something hard to spread, but it is a message that thousands see every Monday in the
Corridor. The interstate signs can be hard to miss with their humorous and sometimes sobering messages. "I think they're informative, they let you know what's going on, what to look for,
Mike Pagel, truck driver, said. "I think it's a great idea to bring it out and make people aware of what's going on out there,
Angie Aegerter, traveling through
Iowa, said. The minds behind the signs,
Willy Sorenson and Tracey Bramble from the
Iowa Department of Transportation, said its the bigger message they want drivers to get. "You get about 12 seconds to drive underneath the
sign and having a message that's memorable and thought-provoking or whatever allows you to kind of extend that 12 seconds, Sorenson said. "The reason behind all of the messages, whether they're funny or not, is to get people to think," Bramble said. Every six months they both come together with ideas given to them by
DOT staff, the public, friends and family, and take one morning to plan out what the board will say every week for those six months. "We'll do song lyrics, we had one 'it's all about the belt, the belt just click it,'" Sorenson said.
Going two years strong, as part of
Zero Fatalities program, they said they want to use 54 characters to change driving habits. Each message addresses on of the five points in the program: speeding, distracted driving, sober driving, seatbelts and drowsy driving. For years, we tried to do all the engineering we could do, all the things to make cars safer, Bramble said. Until people start paying attention to the five behaviors we hit in Zero Fatalities, there's still going to be fatalities." "We may be having a lot of fun and we make this memorable, but in the end it's all serious, Sorenson said. If you have an idea, the team is open to suggestions. They ask that you email, post the idea on
Facebook or Twitter or call. Each message on the board has a deeper meaning and theyll post stories and videos on the DOT social media and blog.
- published: 20 Oct 2015
- views: 1