Reader suggests new Burma Shave signs
Dear Editor:
I would like to help prevent the highway carnage which occurs here so frequently. I suggest reviving the old Burma Shave-type signs with up-to-date quatrains.
As many know, they were four little wooden signs, white with red letters or red with white letters, each containing one line of the quatrain, placed low to the ground by the side of the road, about 100 yards apart, and read sequentially as one drove along.
They were effective because drivers had to slow down to read them. A few suggested moderns that I have come up with:
Alcoa Highway’s
Too fast a strip
Don’t make this road
Your final trip.
Speed on this highway
Causes wrecks
Slow down so you
Won’t be the next
Make sure your seat belt
Don’t unravel
A hearse is still
No way to travel.
Don’t do texting
While you drive
Your text and you
May not arrive
An unwarned turn
Can do great harm
If your blinker’s broke
Stick out your arm
A nice, long chat
We like quite well
But when you drive
Restrict your cell.
Don’t gun your Harley
Overfast
We want your hog
And you to last.
A school zone means
To please drive slow
We want our children
Safe to grow.
Almost anyone can make these up, probably better that I have, and if the idea is viewed favorably, Scout groups, school groups, church groups, or individuals could easily make and letter the wooden signs, highway authorities would determine where placement would be most effective.
These are just ideas to make drivers think and hopefully prevent some of these terrible road accidents.
Sincerely,
Lee Reynolds
1539 Lodge St.
Alcoa, TN 37701
