Utah DOT getting creative with electric roadside signs during “100 deadliest” traffic days

Updated Jun 30, 2015

Utah’s Department of Transportation has a message to drivers: You look good. With a seatbelt on, that is.

UDOT has started changing the message on its electric road signs to raise traffic safety awareness, the Deseret News reported. Instead of the ominous “Click it or Ticket,” UDOT’s new signs let drivers know “That seat belt looks good on you.”

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It’s one of many messages the signs will display during the “100 deadliest days” of the year for traffic in Utah. New messages are expected for drivers every Monday during the 100 days that started Memorial Day weekend.

“Some of the messages are going to be edgier, some of them are going to be lighter,” UDOT spokesman John Gleason said. “The purpose is to start a conversation and get people thinking about traffic safety.”

Utah Highway Patrol Captain Doug McCleve said that more than 50 percent of all fatality crashes the highway patrol investigates are unbuckled people. Between the first day of the “100 deadliest days” and June 2, there were 15 deaths – 1.5 each day. Road deaths for the year are at 99, a 25 percent increase from the same period a year ago.