New York goes poetic to promote street safety

New York City Department of Transportation

Half of the 200 signs will be hung in pairs, with the image and haiku text together. Others will carry QR codes revealing the haiku.

By NBCNewYork.com

“Too averse to risk / To chance the lottery, yet / Steps into traffic."

That's a reminder to pedestrians in New York City to follow traffic rules when crossing the street.

The city is waxing poetic to boost traffic safety.

Colorful 8-inch-square signs featuring safety messages in haiku are being installed at high-crash locations near cultural institutions and schools, including the Bronx's Grand Concourse, MoMA, downtown Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.

City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan announced the new safety campaign, called Curbside Haiku, on Tuesday.

• Read the original story at NBCNewYork.com

Paid for using a state grant from DWI funds, the series includes 12 designs with accompanying haikus that each deliver a targeted safety message by focusing on one transportation mode.

For example, a sign featuring the silhouette of "Walking Man" is paired with the haiku “Too averse to risk / To chance the lottery, yet / Steps into traffic."

• See all the designs (.pdf)

Half of the signs will be hung in pairs, with the image and haiku text appearing. The remaining set feature an image with a QR code to allow New Yorkers to access the safety message via smartphone.

Artist John Morse wrote the haikus and designed the accompanying signs. More than 200 will be installed.

Explore related topics: new-york, traffic, haiku, pedestrian-safety

Andrea Jeffers Schoop

Um.....isn't one of the main causes of traffic accidents these days attributed to texting/e-mailing/Tweeting/Facebooking, etc. while driving? But, I'm sure adding these quirky picture signs with confusing and thought provoking haiku poems at every dangerous intersection will definitely decrease the number of collisions at each location........ Talk about "Here's your sign"! DUH!