MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is getting a bit of a reputation for the witty messages drivers see on electronic boards along state highways and interstates. But how did those message come into existence?
Breaking traffic alerts, subtle messages, and Star Wars innuendos are often seen by drivers across Wisconsin. DOT Communications Manager Ron Riemann says he saw more potential than just your regular updates when he took over the job.
“I just started to expand on that and using more current references to pop culture items and things of that nature to really hone some messages on traffic safety and start a greater conversation about what’s going on,” Riemann told the WTAQ Morning News with Matt and Earl. “We want people to get to where they’re going and we want them to get there safely.”
That active conversation is key. Riemann says DOT employees, law enforcement, and regular Wisconsinites are taking part.
“When I open my email and I see a message from some random person who has a suggestion, I think that that’s really great because now we have this whole conversation that’s going on talking about traffic safety,” Riemann said. “These are people who are now thinking about it. They’ve seen one message and they’re thinking about other things in their lives and try to message that…Everybody has a personal peeve on the road, whether it’s somebody who you know is texting and driving or is having a a full buffet behind the wheel. We want to target these behaviors to impact driver behavior.”
Riemann’s team meets every two months to talk about their message planning, and he usually plans about two months worth of a calendar – which is reviewed to make sure the messages remain on point. There is the long-range plan, but there are also adjustments week-by-week to stay current with what’s going on, especially with weather conditions.
Coming up with the exact right wording for the messages, however, isn’t always the easiest task.
“It’s very short. We have three lines and eighteen characters, so we have to make sure that people can read understand what’s going on as they’re potentially flying under the thing at 70 miles an hour,” Reimann said. “[Working with] the idea of not necessarily coming straight out and saying speeding will kill you – obviously that’s the direction we don’t want to go.”
The goal is to prevent serious crashes or other traffic tragedies. All of which, the DOT says, are preventable.
“An accident refers to it being kind of a random event. But most of the time, it’s a driver not paying attention or making a bad decision, some sort of error, that causes crashes,” said State Traffic Management Supervisor Stacey Pierce.
There are over 500 fatalities on Wisconsin roads every year.
