Traffic safety “nudges” can cause number of crashes to increase (2022)
I think that displaying this information on those DMS is a bad idea unless you give it some context.<p>In Texas they throw up the message similar to &quot;1669 deaths this year on Texas roads&quot; as in the article. Drivers who read the sign have no way of knowing whether this is lower than, higher than, or about the same as the number of deaths for that date in previous years. As the year goes by the number gets larger but there is still no context.<p>A better way to convey this information if you are going to do it at all would be use a reward&#x2F;penalty message format that is readily understandable at highway speeds.<p>The message should be simple. For example - &quot;Texas Traffic Fatalities lower this year than last. Good Job! Drive Friendly&quot; or &quot;Texas Traffic Fatalities higher this year than last. Drive Friendly&quot;<p>That tells anyone reading exactly what they need to know and the message highlighting an improvement contains a simple reward message. When drivers become accustomed to seeing the message in this format they will immediately recognize that fatalities must be higher because the reward is missing from the message. That could trigger an effort to drive more safely.<p>Personally I hate the DMS signs and billboards. In a world where I made the rules there would be no billboards at all as the immortal Ogden Nash said:<p>I think that I shall never see a billboard lovely as a tree.<p>Perhaps, unless the billboards fall, I&#x27;ll never see a tree at all. -- Ogden Nash  (after Joyce Kilmer&#x27;s poem about trees)<p>I would not allow any form of dynamic advertising along roads or highways. That means that if billboards are allowed there would be no LED billboards flashing a new message periodically and distracting drivers. All allowed billboards would be totally static and unless they advertised critical services for travelers they would be unlit at night. That means that no lighted billboards unless they are advertising travel-related infrastructure such as restaurants, clean restroom facilities available for travelers, auto towing, maintenance, or repair shops, etc. All advertised infrastructure can only be lighted during the hours when it is open and available for use by travelers. If the business is closed then the lights must be off.<p>There are already too many distractions for drivers with dash-mounted tablets, cell phone holders, navigation screens, and drivers do not need flashing shit along the road to distract them from the important task of maintaining a safe following distance from other traffic and monitoring other drivers on the road while scanning the highway for hazards along their route like traffic light status, objects in the roadway, unsecured loads, etc.