(Newsworthy.news) – New guidelines from an American government agency have announced the pending ban of traffic signs that use humor to send a message of safety to drivers.
All such signage will be prohibited throughout the United States by 2026, according to the most recent edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD). The manual is issued by the federal Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHA).
The 11th edition of the MUTCD was issued following a December 2023 ruling that officially adopted the updated regulations.
The guidelines emphasize the need to focus on traffic control messages instead of safety campaigns—which are frequently seen with humorous messages along highways—and pointed out that safety messaging put on electronic signs ought to be “simple” and “direct.”
The FHA manual also states that messages containing “obscure or secondary meanings” like “popular culture references” which are written with entertainment in mind should be avoided “as they might be misunderstood” by drivers.
Messages which are laden with “slogans” and “statistical information” are also advised to be avoided. The FHA said in a statement announcing the changes that they came to be after the agency “sought and incorporated” feedback from the American public, engineers and control device technicians.
The agency plans to initiate informative, educational campaigns in the coming months, via online videos and public webinars, to ensure a smooth transition to the new regulations.
The last time the MUTCD was updated was nearly 15 years ago in 2009, with no official updates until the long-awaited 2023 revisions. According to the FHA statement, all 50 states are required to “adopt” the most recent version the manual—which is the 11th update since its initial installment—into their “standard” for all devices related to traffic control by January 18, 2026. This gives states two years after the January 18, 2024 effective date to implement the changes.
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