PHOENIX (AZFamily) — If you know Valley highways, there’s a good chance you know the Arizona Department of Transportation’s iconic safety messages.
Those signs often include humor to grab your attention, and for the ninth year in a row, ADOT is asking the public to submit their own creative traffic safety messages for the signs.
Submissions can be made online at azdot.gov/SignContest now through Sept. 22., but there are a few rules to keep in mind:
- The message must relate to traffic safety
- Message can be a max of 3 lines with 18 characters per line
- No hashtags, emojis, phone numbers or websites are allowed in the message
- Ampersands (&) ARE allowed and can save character space
ADOT will review all the entries and narrow the contest to 10 finalists. The public will then vote on which two messages will appear on safety signs along Arizona’s highways.
Last year, the two winning signs were chosen by a poll of more than 3,200 votes.
The 2024 winners of ADOT’s Saftey Message contest.(Arizona Department of Transportation)
The contest’s goal is to allow Arizonans to engage in conversation about making better driving decisions.
According to statewide crash data, there were 1,228 people killed in crashes on Arizona’s roads in 2024, and many of these deaths were preventable. Last year, 347 people died in alcohol-related crashes, and speeding was a factor cited in crashes that led to 417 fatalities.
“Safety is ADOT’s top priority and it’s our mission to safely connect Arizonans to where they want to go,” ADOT Director Jennifer Toth said. “The Safety Message Contest is an engaging way to help remind all of us to make better decisions behind the wheel and I look forward to seeing what creative messages the public comes up with.”
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