Dynamic Message Boards

Happy New Year, Arizona! I hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday season, spending time with loved ones and ringing in 2026.

The start of a new year is a clean slate, and a time to make resolutions to set ourselves up for success. In that spirit, I hope you consider making one of your New Year’s resolutions to be a safer driver. 

Christmas Day is just around the corner, and while we’re in the final dash to Dec. 25 and buying last-minute presents to put under the tree, we’re taking a moment to remind drivers to practice safe driving over the holidays. 

If you’re out on Arizona highways you may notice some of our overhead message boards displaying safety messages in the days leading up to Christmas, ranging from driving calmly to using headlights (just like Rudolph uses his red nose.) 

The holiday season is in full swing and with people gathering with family and friends to celebrate meals, traditions and more, we want to make sure you get safely to and from your destination. 

To that end, ADOT will be displaying several holiday-themed traffic safety messages on our overhead message boards that remind motorists to practice safe driving — starting with a Hanukkah-themed message. 

We hope these messages help start important conversations about traffic safety and ultimately help influence drivers to make better decisions behind the wheel.

It’s Thanksgiving and that means gathering with friends and family over the holiday weekend. Here at ADOT, we want you to make it to your destination safely. 

If you’re out on Arizona highways over the holiday weekend, you may see our overhead signs displaying traffic safety messages encouraging drivers to go easy on the speed, drive with care and designate a driver. We put up these messages to help start important conversations about traffic safety, and ultimately help influence driver behavior so we all make better decisions behind the wheel. 

All the votes have been counted in the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Safety Message Contest and the public has picked two winning messages! Each person who submitted a winning message was invited to ADOT’s Traffic Operations Center to input their messages into the Dynamic Message Sign system and see their safety message go live via highway cameras.

Grogginess, yawning, sluggishness — they’re all signs of fatigue. 

That fatigue can make it harder to get through a workday, and your motor skills can be impaired. If you drive while drowsy, it could result in a crash. So during Drowsy Driving Prevention Week, which runs Nov. 2-8, we’re reminding drivers to get adequate rest before driving. 

With haunted houses, ghoulish monsters, and scary costumes aplenty this Halloween, we want to take a moment and remind drivers to not give others a sudden fright on the roads when changing lanes and to drive safely in neighborhoods where trick-or-treaters may be crossing the roads.

If you drive on state highways today, you might notice a traffic safety message on our overhead signs, encouraging drivers to use their blinker. By displaying these traffic safety messages on overhead signs, we want to encourage motorists to make better decisions behind the wheel.

As the Phoenix Mercury prepares to play in their first home game of the 2025 WNBA Finals, we want to remind motorists to give an assist to their highway teammates and use their blinkers while they’re driving to help them safely get to and from the game.

If you’re driving on Arizona highways today, you might see some overhead message boards displaying a basketball-themed traffic safety message that encourages drivers to use their turn signals.

The unofficial start to summer is here, and we want to take a moment to remind drivers who may be heading out on the roads over Memorial Day weekend to exercise caution.

First, we do hope you’ll take time during the extended weekend to remember the reason for the holiday and those who have sacrificed their lives for our country and freedom.

As St. Patrick’s Day approaches and Arizonans get ready to celebrate decked out in green, we want to remind drivers that practicing safe driving habits, and not leaving it up to Lady Luck, are important to remember. 

If you drive on state highways over St. Patrick’s Day weekend, you may notice some of the overhead message boards displaying traffic safety messages that encourage motorists to designate a driver and buckling up. We hope that these messages will help spark conversations and ultimately lead to everyone making better decisions behind the wheel.

As Arizonans secure last-minute dinner plans and gifts for their loved ones this Valentine’s Day, we want to remind drivers that using your turn signals is an easy way to show your care for others on the road. 

If you’re out on the highways on Valentine’s Day, you might see our overhead message boards displaying a traffic safety message that encourages drivers to use their blinkers.

We hope that these messages spark discussions and ultimately help influence drivers to make better decisions behind the wheel.

With Game Day approaching and Arizonans prepping appetizers and hedging their bets on who will be crowned Super Bowl champions, we want to remind drivers to have a game plan on how to get home. 

Regardless of whether you’re rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles or the Kansas City Chiefs or you’re only watching for Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show performance, we want you to get home safely after the big game.

It’s that time of year when all of us are asked what we’re grateful for. And if you asked us, we’d say we’re thankful for motorists who practice safe driving. 

If you’re on Arizona highways over the Thanksgiving holiday, you may notice traffic safety messages on our overhead message boards that encourage you to drive with care, slow down, designate a driver and use your blinkers. We put up these messages in hopes that it engages drivers and ultimately changes their behavior behind the wheel, making travel safer for everyone.

If you’re driving on Arizona highways this Friday and Saturday, you may notice some of our overhead signs displaying a traffic safety message related to the WNBA All-Star Game happening in Phoenix. 

We want to grab people’s attention and engage them with important traffic safety messages. We hope this approach and these messages resonate and prompt conversations that change driver behavior so we all make better decisions behind the wheel.

ADOT’s vision is safely connecting people and empowering Arizona’s economy. That includes those attention-grabbing and often humorous messages that appear when overhead message boards aren’t being used for other purposes. In the latest episode of our podcast, On the Road with ADOT, we talk safety messaging.

It’s Valentine’s Day and we hope that today, just like every other day of the year, you’ll make safe driving decisions behind the wheel. 

Choosing to let fellow drivers merge, using your turn signals to indicate you’re switching lanes, and not texting while driving are all simple ways to show others on the road how much you care about them — that their safety, and your own, are paramount.

We can’t give out chocolates or bouquets of flowers, but Arizonans who practice safe driving have our everlasting gratitude.

For several years, ADOT has placed traffic safety messages on overhead message boards. Often, these messages relate to holidays, like Halloween, and other events that are front-of-mind for people.

Our purpose in displaying these messages is to grab people’s attention and make them engage with important traffic safety messages. We hope this approach and these messages resonate and prompt conversations among drivers, both in person and via social media, and change driver behavior.

It's almost Halloween, so it's time to be the good witch and not the bad witch. Be patient, cautious and mindful of a horde of candy seekers.  

We hope you start the holiday season with safety. 

PHOENIX – A mystery person and a husband-and-wife team of a hero hiker and a kindergarten teacher are the winners of ADOT’s Safety Message Contest.

More than 5,500 votes were cast by the public for the 12 message finalists. The top two vote-getters and winners are: