KENT COUNTY, Del. - If you've driven along Route 1, I-95 or I-495 in the last few years, you may have gotten a good laugh. DelDOT has about 185 unique safety messages that it cycles through to post on its message boards. They often change with trends, like holidays or popular movies. As always, the goal is to make Delaware's roads safer.
"Freddy says 'keep yourself alive,'" says Terry Goldberg of Milford as she recalls one of the DelDOT safety messages.
WRDE sat down with the Scott Neidert, the mastermind behind the message boards, to see just how they're created.Â
"Who you gonna call? No one. You're driving," Neidert mentions one of his favorites.
DelDOT has had these signs for more than a decade. Neidert says it was in 2017 when the clever safety messages picked up the pace.
"You can only 'say slow down in work zones.' or 'don't drive drunk,' 'buckle up' so many times."
The goal with today's safety messages is to get drivers' attention and give them reminders they'll remember.Â
Goldberg says today's catchier signs are much-needed, especially on Route 1.
"They don't pay attention a lot of them and that's a problem," says Goldberg.
Neidert says suggestions come internally, from highway safety partners, social media, and even his own relatives, but of course upper management has the final say.
DelDOT uses its message boards to announce road closures and other traffic alerts. When there aren't any messages like that to post, it uses the safety messages to fill the space.
"You're going on a boring drive and you see something that makes you smile, of course you're going to pay attention," says Harlem "Sam" Ranger of Milford.
"I think the one about Yoda was funny," says Frank Alcoser, who drives on Route 1 to Wilmington once a week.
Neidert says messages that receive a lot of positive feedback often reappear.Â
"We keep them in our catalog for next year," says Neidert.
DelDOT has about a dozen boards on Route 1 alone, but Neidert says there are plans to connect with more drivers by posting more signs after more improvement projects wrap up.
At this time the program stays within the agency, but there have been talks about letting the public submit messages in the future.
