Call it the low-hanging fruit of traffic safety: a number of states around the country post traffic fatality figures on the message boards posted along highways. Questions remain whether such safety campaigns actually work.
Aarian Marshall reports on a new road safety campaign by the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans), modeled on programs in Tennessee and Colorado. The method for the program: posting the number of traffic fatalities on the electronic message boards planted alongside the state's highways.
Marshall writes: "The agency is hoping that by publicly posting the number of highway deaths each week, more people might be frightened into buckling up—or putting down the cellphone, or backing away from the car while drunk, or traveling closer to the speed limit."
Marshall goes on to cite the inconclusive body of evidence about whether the signs actually work. There's also already a body of work by writers expressing their frustration with similar program, such as this column by Eric Zorn for the Chicago Tribune.
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