Highway 2 in Washington State (The Highway of Death) has a sign informing motorists about the interval since the last serious crash. Any evidence this improves driving behavior?
What about the, “XXX days since last accident,” signs at construction sites? Fewer injuries? Lower insurance rates for the contracting company?
ISTM those signs would cause more accidents due to you taking your eyes off the road for a couple seconds.
I have no proof of this, but I assume that most people when they see one of those signs will think about the consequences of not driving well, at least for a short while, until they forget about the sign and return to driving the way they were before they saw the sign. At least that’s the effect it has on me. Whether that leads to lower accidents in the long run is anyone’s guess. Someone should do a study!
It’s probably not possible to narrow down the effects of the sign vs. the effects of other improvements, but highway 2 has gotten markedly safer in recent years:
Going from 5.9 traffic deaths per year to 4 traffic deaths per year seems like improvement, however it probably has a lot more to do with additional middle turn lanes, traffic circles, rumble strips, etc. than signs.
How am I supposed to respond to those signs?
“I was going to have an accident but, by golly, not having accidents is apparently something I should be proud of so I’ll just scratch “Have an accident” off my to-do list.”
If you were planning to “have an accident,” aren’t you really planning to have an “on purpose”? 
The signs on constructions sites are intended to remind the workers of the dangers involved … a good worksite supervisor will generate a feeling of pride among the workers when the number gets large … “We bad, no one’s died here in 17 days” … I assume it’s the same on highways … just to remind people that the highway is dangerous and maybe you should quit texting or shaving …
It’s odd that municipalities and businesses would go to the trouble and expense of collecting and displaying this information if there’s no evidence it makes roads and workplaces safer. I’ve looked for data, but alas. Is it intended to be aspirational?
In contrast, the “Your speed is XXX MPH,” radar signs appear to be effective at reducing average speeds.
The one I drive by has a different stat on it every day. Which is annoying, because when it is not giving stats, it is telling me how long it takes to get to a few roads, telling me what traffic is like, which is useful. But, instead, it switches between the useful info, and the useless.
recently, it said “Distracted driving accidents this year …”
I had to wonder how many of those distraction were people trying to read the sign.
Possibly cars with more air bags, more drivers use seat belts, etc. Like you said, it is really hard to pinpoint things like this.
Dennis
I hate those signs. However many days it’s been, that last day was someone’s parent, child, sibling, and friend, and whenever those parents etc. drive by the sign it’s a reminder.
I know it’s supposed to be more like “We’re on a roll, don’t be the one who breaks it,” and it seems different if it’s XX days since the last onsite accident versus a road sign outside town.
Around here, there are signs that have witty slogans that change with the seasons reminding people to buckle up and not drive drunk. I wonder about the effectiveness of those, too.
Like k9bfriender’s, these signs also sometimes list the number of miles and minutes to various notable interchanges and exits. Those have never been very useful to me, because I’m mostly on those freeways when traffic is good, and the mile numbers are close enough to the same as the minute numbers, but I suppose they might be useful in a rush hour traffic jam.
The one I pass is important, as, even though I don’t go all the way to the road that is first listed, I go about halfway there. If I see that it is 45 minutes to go those 10 miles, then I go ahead and get off the interstate and take the back roads the rest of the way home. When it backs up, it usually backs up between that sign and the road that I would rather get off at.
I assume that the numbers on signs that are telling me how many people died because they weren’t buckled up, or drunk driving, or whatever, are for the state, as I pass a couple other signs sometimes if I am in other parts of town, and they have the same number. It seems way too big to just be the local area, and way too small to be national.
This illustrating your user name.
A few (well maybe 30) years ago we were driving through France. Every so often, usually at a bend or a junction, there would be a ‘lollipop’ sign, or maybe two or three, with “20 ans” or “10 ans” on them and a skull and crossbones. I remember there were some junctions with what must have been whole families, like “30 ans, 28 ans, 10 ans, 9 ans 3 ans”.
If you think a sign saying xxx days since the last accident would disturb the relatives, how about those French signs. I believe there was a protest and they were removed eventually.
Well yeah, since they suggest that Big Brother is watching.
Hospitals are increasingly participating in “Do No Harm” initiatives to reduce preventable events like hospital-acquired infections, patient falls etc.
While I haven’t yet seen any signs in hospitals that read “Days Since Last Harm” (they exist, believe it or not), some hospitals actually are displaying scorecards, including in public areas. Example:
I’m not sure I’d be all that reassured when going in for surgery, to find out that my hospital’s “Failure to Maintain An Environment That Preserves Dignity” rate is down 15% for the current quarter.
Maybe just the opposite. Maybe drivers will be lulled into a false sense of security, thinking the highways department has overcome all the design defects that were the causes of previous accidents, so it is no longer necessary to be vigilant for those, or for anything else. Nothing to see here, folks, resume texting.
Well, I can see logic where the signs might help":
Last time I was in the hospital, several years ago, I eventually read all the books I brought with and got stir-crazy, so I was reading the stuff posted on the bulletin board near the nurses station. There was a chart posted listing things like how many hospital-acquired infections, patient falls, etc. had occurred in this ward, and comparing them to other wards and the hospital as a whole.
Is this sort of sign a west coast thing? Because I live in the DC area, and I have absolutely never seen a sign advertising how many days it’s been since the last serious road accident.
In general signs like it that are effective because they create a norm around driving safely. Since people are social there is a natural tendency to do what other people are doing. If the sign sends the message everyone else is driving safely then it would work.