The idea behind this post came from yesterday as I was driving through the mountains of Vermont, but I didn’t think of posting it until today when some deer crossing signs made my little light bulb go off.
So, yesterday on the two-lane mountain highway through Vermont, every few miles there would be moose crossing signs up, and one of them warned “Caution, hundreds of collisions every year!” Now, the intention here is to make drivers watch the road so they don’t slam into a moose. But I really think it has the opposite effect. Because I know if it is a Moose Crossing area, there is a good chance there are going to be some moose around, and I want to see them! Because we don’t get a lot of moose in Texas. I don’t care about deer crossing areas, deer are no big deal, but now I’m looking into the trees, looking off into the shoulder, basically everywhere except the road cause I want to see some moose, and I know the chance of a moose actually being on the road is slim, at least compared to one chilling a few feet off past the shoulder. So, if you want me to watch the road instead of looking for moose, they should make the sign really ominous. It should just say, “Watch the road for some really nasty shit, we can’t tell you what it is, but you’ll know it when you see it.” Even though all that would be pretty hard to fit on a road sign, I would definitely pay attention then.
