PHOENIX — It’s not a joke. Humorous and quirky messages on electronic signs will soon disappear from highways across the country.
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has given states two years to implement all the changes outlined in the new 1,100-page manual released last month, including rules describing how signs and other traffic control devices are regulated.
Administration officials said electronic overhead signs with obscure meanings, pop culture references or that are intended to be funny will be banned in 2026 because they can be misunderstood or distracting to drivers.
The agency, which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, said signs should be “simple, direct, brief, legible and clear” and should only be used for important information, such as warning motorists of future accidents, adverse weather conditions and traffic delays. Seat belt reminders and warnings about the dangers of speeding or impaired driving are also permitted.
Among the posts that will disappear are posts like “Use Yah Blinkah” in Massachusetts; “Visiting the in-laws? Slow down, be late,” from Ohio; “Don’t Drive Star Spangled Hammered,” from Pennsylvania; “Hocus pocus, driving with focus” from New Jersey; and “Hands on the wheel, not your meal” from Arizona.
Arizona has more than 300 electronic signs above its highways. For the past seven years, the Department of Transport has been running a competition to find the funniest and most creative messages.
Anyone could submit ideas. Last year there were more than 3,700 entries. The winners were “Seat Belts Always Pass Vibration Check” and “I’m Just a Sign Asking Drivers to Use Turn Signals.”
“We like the humor part of it,” state Rep. David Cook, a Globe Republican, told CBS 5, the Phoenix TV station. “I think in Arizona the majority of us do, if not all of us.
He said he didn’t understand the fuss.
“Why are you trying to get the federal government to come in and tell us what we can do in our own state? A prime example of the federal government not focusing on what they need to be.”