One of the many Interstate 95 highway signs written by the staff at the Maine Department of Transportation is shown in this 2021 file photo.

Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to letters@bangordailynews.com

On Dec. 30, my wife and I drove north on I-95 from Bangor to Houlton, and we enjoyed the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) humorous holiday messages. Then, suddenly, I was dismayed by one!  

The message was carried on two screens of the sign. One said, “Sober drivers are” and the other, “The life of the party”. Truly, a sobering message. But my perplexity arose from the apparent order of the signs! Was the MDOT actually trying to quote Yoda? Should the message really have been read, “The life of the party, sober drivers are”? I pondered that for quite a number of miles.  

In addition to “getting the message” in either format, it served to break the “terminal monotony” of I-95 north (in either direction)! Perhaps the Federal Highway administrators could take a “happy pill,” lighten up, and leave alone the Maine Department of Transportation’s program to get messages across in a manner that actually appeals to our motoring public?

Michael P. Gleason

Bangor

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