Statewide positive reaction to the Utah Department of Transportation's Message Monday campaign has caused them to reach out to the public for more ideas.
A couple they have received so far include "May the seat belt be with you?" and "Snow down, slow down."
And the campaign is growing. This past week, UDOT decided to involve the public in its process of creating new messages to be broadcast over Utah VMS, something UDOT spokesman John Gleason said he is looking forward to.
"In our group there is a lot of creative people, but I think there is always a benefit when you have more ideas and more suggestions coming in," Gleason said. "I think that can only improve the quality of the messages."
Message Monday aims to convey messages that are clever, concise and communicate traffic safety.
Gleason said UDOT has received hundreds of public-generated submissions so far, including "Even E.T. doesn't phone home while he's driving," and "You can read. Do the speed."
Message Monday aims to convey messages that are clever, concise and communicate traffic safety, inspiring people to think about how they can be safer drivers. These weekly signs are a part of UDOT's Zero Fatalities Campaign to eliminate the amount of traffic-related deaths on Utah roads.
"There's five deadly behaviors that are killing people on our roads," Gleason said. "Aggressive driving, distracted driving, drowsy driving, impaired driving and not buckling up. Those are the behaviors that we're trying to tackle with our Zero Fatalities Campaign and really what we're pointing out here with our Message Monday signs, we're trying to get people to think about those behaviors, how they can eliminate them from their driving and how they can become safer drivers."
UDOT's Message Monday campaign was originally intended for the state's 100 deadliest days period from Memorial Day to Labor Day. In October, Gleason said they have received so much positive feedback that they decided to continue it through the foreseeable future.
Want to send your Message Monday ideas to UDOT? Email messagemonday@utah.gov or tweet them @UtahDOT. Messages can occupy a maximum amount of three lines with 17 characters per line.
