The Iowa Department of Transportation is putting up a new type of roadsign on the interstate highways on the borders. The director of the D-O-T Office of Traffic and Safety, Steve Gent, says the signs are very big and across the top in yellow and black lettering it says, “State Law” , and the rest of the sign says “Move over or slow down for emergency and maintenance vehicles.”
Miller says the signs help alert people to the need to watch out for emergency vehicles. He says the legislature enacted a law in 2002 to require drivers to move over or slow down when they emergency or maintenance vehicles on the side or the road. The first signs are going up along I-80 and I-280 in Scott County, along I-35 in Decatur and Worth counties, along I-29 in Fremont and Woodbury counties and along I-80 and I-680 in Pottawattamie County.
Gent says they’re placing the signs at the entrances to the state so people coming in know that Iowa has this law. He says it also reminds others that this law is there to protect law officers and maintenance workers. Gent says the signs aren’t a response to any problems with roadside accidents. He says they don’t track these types of crashes, so they’re rare. However, he says when they do happen, they can be pretty severe. Gent says temporary signs will be completed and installed by D-O-T employees. Larger, permanent signs will be produced and installed by a contractor within a year.
Other signs will be added on I-80 between Grinnell and Altoona (eastbound and westbound), I-80 between Adair and West Des Moines(eastbound and westbound), I-35 between Osceola and Cumming(southbound only), I-35 between Ankeny and Ames (northbound and southbound), I-380 between Coralville and Cedar Rapids (northbound and southbound) To see what the sign will look like, surf to Radio-Iowa-dot-com.