MEETING dates and times have been announced to comment on the Virginia Department of Transportation's plans to cut back on mowing, interstate maintenance, highway safety service patrols, and closing rest areas
Rest areas in Thornburg and Dale City on Interstate 95 would be closed starting in July under the plan. Fredericksburg's rest area and welcome center would stay open.
A meeting will be held in Culpeper at 6 p.m. on March 19 at the Daniel Technology Center, 18121 Technology Drive. Another meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on March 30 at the Caroline County Community Center, 17202 Richmond Turnpike.
Dear Kelly: Could VDOT make use of those expensive overhead warning signs on I-95 for other than emergency warnings?
An example would be to remind drivers on rainy days that in Virginia you are required to turn on your headlights if precipitation is present! It's the law. I think the signs are under-utilized and drivers would benefit from an occasional gentle nudge to comply with current laws.
--John Eskam, Spotsylvania
Yes, drivers in Virginia must turn on their vehicle's headlights whenever the windshield wipers are activated during inclement weather. Good reminder, just in time for spring.
But the Virginia Department of Transportation will not be notifying people of this state law on the electronic message boards on major highways.
"Whenever those message signs are activated with any message, it tends to slow traffic down," said Tina Bundy, VDOT spokeswoman, Fredericksburg District. "So we try to limit the messages on the boards to incident or traffic conditions, warning people of those conditions.
"If we put any other message up there, they tend not to be effective because people then stop paying attention to it," Bundy said.
Even when the message is necessary and legitimate--say, a crash at Exit 136, with traffic delays--everyone on I-95 slows down substantially to read it.
That's a good thing. People slow down and read the sign now because they know the message will be important. VDOT uses these boards so sparingly, when the board does say something, drivers pay attention.
I think VDOT is guarding against ambivalence. If it starts using the message boards for a variety of safety messages, no matter how valid, like "Buckle Up!" or "Don't Drive and Drive," people will start to ignore them. The next time a driver sees a message board they may be less likely to pay attention, and that's when they could miss an important bulletin.
In 2005, when a hazardous materials spill shut down all lanes of Interstate 95 south in Spotsylvania for nearly 30 hours, message boards up and down the East Coast warned drivers on I-95 to stay away.
VDOT is required by law to broadcast Ozone Alert days on the signs, so it has no say over that message. VDOT also chooses to broadcast Amber Alerts on the signs.
Illinois and Indiana recently learned how powerful the signs can be. Last month, hackers broke into the highway sign network in these states and posted signs reading "Daily Lane Closures Due To Zombies," and "Raptors Ahead--Caution."
"We understood it was a hoax, but at the same time those boards are there for a reason," Joe Gasaway, an Illinois Department of Transportation supervisory field engineer told the Associated Press in a Feb. 4, 2009, story. "We don't want [drivers] being distracted by a funny sign."
Kelly Hannon is The Free Lance-Star's transportation reporter. If you have questions, send them to Getting There,