Expect a lot of rhyming on the Ohio Department of Transportation’s programmable signs on Tuesday as the agency strives to discourage impaired driving with cheeky messages to motorists.

While the Federal Highway Administration’s update early this year of its traffic-sign manual included guidance against humor or pop-culture references on such signs, an ODOT spokesman said that has been interpreted to mean that messages have to be straight-forward enough that they don’t serve to distract drivers from their primary task.

And while Matt Bruning, the spokesman at ODOT’s Columbus headquarters, declined to tip the agency’s hand entirely, he noted that the new year, 2025, offers some distinct rhyming possibilities.

“The one for New Year’s Eve obviously will focus on impaired driving,” Mr. Bruning said. “On New Year’s Day, we’ll focus on distracted driving.”

Distracted driving “is definitely a bigger and bigger issue” even though Ohio’s hands-free law has taken a bite out of distraction-related crashes, Mr. Bruning said.

“We’re still seeing too many people driving distracted,” he said. “With New Year’s Day being a day for resolutions, we’re hoping one people make will be to not drive distracted.”

AAA reinforced state officials’ impaired-driving message with a statement Monday describing New Year’s as one of the most dangerous days of the year for highway safety.

In particular, the auto club noted, fatal crashes are 2.9 times more likely to involve alcohol impairment at night compared with the daytime.

In its annual Traffic Safety Culture Index, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety noted 95 percent of drivers overwhelmingly perceived driving after drinking alcohol as very or extremely dangerous, and 67 percent believed such a driver would likely be apprehended by police. However, 7 percent of respondents reported having engaged in this behavior in the past 30 days.

“This driving behavior must change in order to save lives on our roadways,” said Kara Hitchens, a regional auto club spokesman.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol pledged to be “highly visible” during the official two-day New Year’s reporting period that runs from Tuesday morning through Wednesday night, while urging people to select designated, sober drivers where appropriate.

“As we welcome the new year, remember that driving under the influence can result in tragic and preventable consequences,” said Col. Charles A. Jones, the highway patrol’s superintendent. “If you feel impaired, so is your ability to drive safely.”

“We want everyone to start the new year off by getting home safely after the ball drops,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said. “If you’re going out to celebrate, please plan ahead to ride with a sober driver.”

During last year’s four-day New Year’s weekend, seven people died in six fatal crashes across Ohio, and three of those crashes – resulting in four deaths – were found to be alcohol-related, the state patrol said.

Troopers also made 280 impaired-driving arrests during that period and cited 414 drivers for failure to wear seat belts.

ODOT expects that if fewer people drive drunk or high in 2025, more will arrive alive at their destinations.

An update to the Federal Highway Administration’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which provides nationwide standards for signs, signals, and pavement markings, that took effect early this year discouraged use of humor on changeable message signs.

“Messages with obscure or secondary meanings, such as those with popular culture references, unconventional sign legend syntax, or that are intended to be humorous, should not be used as they might be misunderstood or understood only by a limited segment of road users and require greater time to process and understand,” the highway administration stated.

“Similarly, slogan-type messages and the display of statistical information should not be used,” it said.

But a highway administration spokesman subsequently qualified that rather than a funny-message ban, the provision is a recommendation to avoid humor or pop-culture references that might confuse or distract drivers.

And that, Mr. Bruning said, is how ODOT is interpreting it.

The state will avoid messages like one it posted a few years ago that made reference to the phonetic pronunciation of “fragile” depicted in the movie A Christmas Story because too many drivers didn’t get the reference, he said.

The changeable messages predominantly address speeding, impaired driving, distraction, and seat-belt use, Mr. Bruning noted.

“If people honor those messages, we can solve the vast majority of fatalities” on Ohio highways, he said, “and if we can put a smile on your face while we do it, even better.”

First Published December 30, 2024, 10:36 p.m.