17 signs so funny they're about to be banned from highways
After years of debate, the federal government is banning humorous highway safety sign messages.
Some researchers say the jokes grab drivers' attention, but regulators say they're distracting.
Here are some of the funniest and cleverest highway messages you won't see after January 2026.
You know that funny, witty sign that sometimes blinks above the highway, promoting safety? It certainly caught your eye. But did it distract you from driving?
US states have been using quirky roadside signs to remind drivers to slow down, use turn signals, and buckle up.
These 'changeable message signs' are meant to display safety messages, transportation-related notices, and emergency alerts.
But states like Iowa, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Nevada have been putting their own twist on them for years to grab drivers' attention.
The tradition is so popular that some states, like Nevada, hold contests and encourage drivers to submit entries for the messages.
States even like to time their roadside safety messages with holidays.
Federal officials are not sure the practice is safe. They worry that 'unconventional' wording or syntax could be more distracting than anything else.
Now the US Federal Highway Administration is banning jokes and pop-culture references on highway signs.
Messages about safety should be "simple, direct, brief, legible, and clear," the agency said in its new guidelines.
Debates over highway messaging came to a head in late 2022, when the New Jersey Department of Transportation unveiled new humorous signs.
Source: New Jersey DOT
Their puns were so popular that the department posted a tweet urging people not to take pictures of them while driving.
Source: Washington Post
A few weeks later, the Federal Highway Administration told New Jersey to 'cease and desist,' as reported by the Washington Post, saying this use of highway signs 'is inconsistent with both law and regulations.'
New Jersey complied, with some grumbles. Senator Cory Booker wrote to the agency asking why just New Jersey got rebuked, when a lot of states use such signs.
Source: November 2022 letter by US Senator Cory Booker and others to the Federal Highway Administration.
Some researchers, like Tripp Shealy at Virginia Tech, claim that non-traditional safety messages are highly effective, because they force drivers to engage their brains more.
Source: VDOT
On the other hand, research by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Transportation Research Board recommended that 'agencies do not attempt to incorporate humor or pop culture references' into the messages.
Source: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Transportation Research Board
According to the Washington Post, some states like Virginia and Pennsylvania tried to find a compromise by having a committee vet the messages using federal guidelines.
The new ban on signs with jokes and pop culture references goes into effect on Thursday, January 18, but the federal agency is giving states two years to comply. By January 2026, there should be no more funny signs on the highway.
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