Remember the fable about Peter, a little sheep herder who didn't want to do his assigned job alone? So he would cry "wolf" and get the entire village to react. After so many false alarms, no one paid attention to his cries when the big bad wolf actually showed up.
This is akin to the VDOT emergency notification boards lit up along the interstates. Lights flashing or message rolling notifies drivers to expect something -- watch out for mowing crews working along the edges, slow down for workers patching potholes or painting lines, be prepared for traffic that's creeping along because of construction or divert to an alternate route due to an accident.
Citizens know the drill and can be supportive of the investment this technology represents as a service to taxpayers and safety (including those passing through Virginia who stop for gas and meals or to recreate and play tourist).
But on this Thanksgiving week, along the interstates these signs were blinking and urging motorists to "tune into AM 1620". Accident? No. Construction? Surely not, as Virginia has no funds for transportation projects, diverting nearly all money to maintenance needs so they wouldn't be paying a subcontractor double time and a half for work done on a national holiday.
These "urgent" messages were reminders to buckle up, not follow too closely, observe the speed limit. Maybe. The electronic voice and static made it extremely difficult to understand. After going through all the commotion while merging onto the interstate, turning on the radio, finding the station and then listen to the garbled message -- you now had a distracted and stressed driver, who after 10 minutes realized the flashing signs were just a boy crying wolf. No accidents, no road closure, no traffic back ups ahead.
Maybe the reminders were necessary and citizens are so thoughtless and hurried they rush to their family gatherings, abandoning routine safety practices and common sense. Yet maybe the messages were so mundane as to become analogous with Peter and more likely to turn into something drivers just visually tune out everyday.
At least the messages could have been telling drivers which exit had an open commercial establishment since most of the area's State rest stops are shuttered and few gas stations or restaurants were open on this holiday. Now these are hazardous places where local drivers have to be very alert, as truckers and travelers try to go where they stopped before, get confused and then veer back towards traffic speeding along at 65 mph.