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Use ya blinkas and vote for Xanda
By adamg on Fri, 07/10/2015 - 11:59am
Why, yes, of course there is no finer use for highway signboards than urging Massholes to get Xander Bogaerts to the All-Star Game.
Free tagging:
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Comments
I saw this yesterday
I thought the DOT had been hacked. First of all, unless you are a member of the 10% of the population that uses Twitter, the message itself makes no sense at all, but more importantly, I thought there was some sort of State or Federal regulation that made it illegal to use the highway signs for this type of stupid bullshit.
Highly compensated professional athletes and the multi-millionaires (billionaires) who own and reap the rewards of their efforts have more than enough money to buy their own marketing campaign and don't need any further support of the taxpayers to promote their businesses.
Wow, and I thought the ad for
Wow, and I thought the ad for hiring DCR lifeguards was bad...
This violates federal rules about the use of highway signs for non-transportation purposes.
Umm
Let me just grab my phone and tweet this while I drive.
Do "teen operators" get an exemption from that law to tweet this?
Don't text and drive
But tweeting for Xander, well, that's just public service!
Thanks for the #PSA #MassDOT.
Signboards obsolete
These signboards are obsolete and should be phased out, especially if this is the content. I recall a few years back, most of them were found to be broken anyway. With traffic updates constantly on the radio, and a cellphone in almost every car, the time for these has come and long gone. I can't recall getting any useful information off them.
Not obsolete
I don't use my cellphone while driving; YMMV. These signs are also used to warn of upcoming construction shutdowns and the like, and they're very useful for that. My only quibble is that too often the message is too verbose, therefore you need successive page views to get the whole message, and the combination of travel speeds plus high profile vehicles means that I often miss part of it. As for most of them being found to be broken, not sure where you'd get that from, but I've seen plenty functional.
Radio?
Seriously? Radio?
But of course
Radio (especially AM) is the stronghold of conservative groupthink. I mean, they're *literally* broadcasting from inside echo chambers.
Yes Swirly, radio
It's usually standard equipment on all cars. Not sure if you have it yet on the bicycle. WBZ provides a great service, "Traffic on the Threes" which tells just about everything you need to know traffic wise. As for the defective signs, a link here reports many of them not working and otherwise useless.
Radio
Hitting the 1030 preset is a lot safer than monkeying around with your iPhone.
Traffic on the threes?
It isn't terribly useful, coverage is random, and you have to have AM radio. Then you have to listen to it for ten or more minutes before they don't mention that accident you already passed.
Unlike these signs, it also doesn't tell you to start thinking about alternate routes for next friday, when something will be closed or messed with on your regular route.
I do actually own a car - and, no, it doesn't have an AM radio. Like many people, I pick a Google Play or Pandora mix before I turn the key or listen to satellite radio once I'm out of data range. We generally have one of the passengers look for incidents and alternates.
Know what used to be handy? The phone number the State had set up. That was nice - until somebody screwed it up and made it nearly impossible to find the route without pulling over to mess with the phone.
Message boards warning of storms long passed
Swirly, in all seriousness are they now selling cars without AM/FM radio? I enjoy the audio apps as much as anyone. I also bought a nice, new car last year after shopping around and never saw one without traditional radio. I got free satellite for a year and it just expired. I won't be renewing. As for Traffic on the Threes not being updated, if you read that link, the message boards were once broadcasting a storm that had come and long gone days before! Par for the course.
***UPDATE: Just spoke with a top manager of one of the largest car dealerships in the state (and the world) and he says all of their cars have AM, he has never heard of FM only radio. I didn't think so.***
Shall I clutch my pearls and gasp?
Oh, the horror. Once a message board posted some out of date information which would have confused and misled exactly nobody who isn't willfully stupid. I'd offer my sympathy if there was any possibility that this was anything but axe-grinding fodder for you.
It isn't par for the course, and that's exactly the point.
If the message boards offend you that much, Fish, feel free to avert your eyes. You've yet to come up with a single way that they're harming you or anyone else. This is just something that lets you whine about the gummint as always.
New technology for ya
Your top manager may be unaware of an option called satellite radio (for example, Sirius). This can be added as an aftermarket upgrade, but is also offered as a factory option in some cars sold by at least some dealerships (although perhaps not the largest car dealership in the state and the world).
Read his post
He's clearly aware of satellite radio, and states that he has it in his car. His point was that all cars have AM/FM radios, not that they ONLY have AM/FM radios.
Top manager for all car brands
Yeah. Sure. And all after market makers, too.
Bet your pacer has has am radio, therefore ...
This article is now on the
This article is now on the second page and thus I might be too late to find out anything (to note, I do agree that the signs have its place, definitely can remember moments see more pertinent information - usually snow stuff - than the radio). But do cars really have no AM radio these days?
Let's get rid of all the
Let's get rid of all the static road signs too. Who needs exit signage, route markers, speed limit signs, etc., when so many of us have GPSes nowadays?
Not a Hack?
Seriously not a hack? I'm hoping MassDOT puts a stop to silly uses of these overhead signs (and I'm not talking about clever uses--Blinkahs being among that.)
Well it's not like the police
Well it's not like the police will ticket you if you don't use your blinkers (unless you 'look suspicious') so the use your blinkers campaign was a waste anyway. They might as well just post the platitudes from fortune cookies.
of course there is no finer
How about telling people what's for lunch?
Not sure why people are so butthurt about this
It took somebody less than a minute to get that signboard to display that message. If they hadn't done that, it would just be blank (I'm assuming they didn't forego displaying a traffic alert to get people to vote for the all star game). What is the big deal?
The "Big" Deal
It would be wise idea to leave them blank unless there is an urgent message. This way people pay more attention to them when they notice some text displayed. No text = no major problems.
If they are going to use them it wouldn't hurt to put info for the general public and not some cryptic message which is related to a private business. (Might as well put "Big Sale at Macys".)
Anyway, it's not a "big" deal, just a poor use of what should be a sign reserved for important roadway information.
There is a very good reason why
this is NOT a good idea (even if it only took a person a minute to program the sign).
If DOT continues to post irrelevant messages that have nothing to do with roadway or traffic conditions, then drivers will eventually tune out the boards altogether, even when they are displaying a critical message.
It's mu understanding that DOT actually has a written policy, based on current Federal guidance, that dictates what sort of messages can and cannot be posted on these signs. A quick read of the Federal guidance leads me to believe that neither this message nor the DCR lifeguard solicitation should have even been posted on these signs.
Frankly, IMHO, the Feds really need to clamp down on this sort of BS that's been going on.
And I'll confess - somebody e-mailed me a photo of the sign earlier, and I thought it was a hack myself.
The issue isn't the state
The issue isn't the state employee's time. It's distracting drivers, and encouraging them to text.
Because something that's
Because something that's supposed to be used for important messages is being used for crass advertising.
find something else to be
find something else to be outraged out. if you don't like the message on your sign, then just carry on with your day. go sox!
roads are dangerous
Use signage for purposes of safety and effective use of roads.
Don't use signage for other purposes.
Federal standards for
changeable message sign (CMS) panel messages (from Chapter 2L of the 2009 MUTCD):
Don't see anything in here about DCR lifeguards or grossly overpaid "professional" athletes involved in children's games.
Firstly, not everyone who is
Firstly, not everyone who is in a vehicle is a driver, many of us are passengers. Secondly, if you can't figure out by now that you should wait to text until after you've finished driving then please surrender your license. If someone told you to jump off a bridge, would you?