Tickled by this on Poetry International and got some more here.

New York City shows its poetic prowess by using artistic haiku safety signs at heavily trafficked areas. Referred to as “Curbside Haiku,” the Department of Transportation (DOT) launched the campaign in November, 2011. New Yorkers will soon see these creative traffic safety signs throughout the five boroughs.

The brightly colored signs mimicking traditional street safety signs were created by artist John Morse. The colorful artwork is accompanied by a catchy haiku poem about traffic safety. NYC was the venue of legendary poets such as Emma Lazarus, Anthony Hecht and Walt Whitman. As an artists’ mecca, this unique campaign seems to suit the city.

There are 144 signs promoting road safety placed throughout NYC. Each sign encourages safety by focusing on various modes of transportation including walking, biking and driving. The goal is to keep the city streets safe for everyone using them.

According to the NYC DOT, some of the signs are mysteriously fun with an embedded QR code. People with smartphone apps use them to discover the safety message. Some are hung in pairs with an image and haiku text. The idea is to ensure the signs are noticed so safety messages are delivered.

This entry was posted on December 9th, 2011 at 1:29 pm by Bev Clark and is filed under Inspiration, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.