That damn “Common Core” again...
“That damn “Deer Common Core” again...
My buddy John sent me a link this morning from an Iowa NBC affiliate reporting the Iowa Department of Transporation was reminding people that a deer crossing sign is a reminder for people, not deer…Lord, help us…
From the article:
“The Iowa Department of Transportation took to social media this week to clarify the meaning of deer crossing signs on the highway.
Iowa DOT says they regularly have people asking why they don’t place deer crossing signs where it is safer for deer to cross the road.
Iowa DOT’s response:
‘Deer can’t read signs. Drivers can. This sign isn’t intended to tell deer where to cross, it’s for drivers to be alert that deer have been in this area in the past.’”
My first thought after reading this was these people are allowed to vote. Frightening for the institution of democracy.
My second thought was I swore I’d heard something like this before. Indeed, there was an incident in Indiana in 2011 when a letter was sent to a local newspaper and published.
The letter read:
“A lot of deer get hit by cars west of Crown Point on U.S. 231. There are too many cars to have the deer crossing here. The deer crossing sign needs to be moved to a road with less traffic.” – Tim Abbott, Crown
Point
In the era of fake news and Internet hoaxes, I decided to visit Snopes to research the veracity of this whole deal. Do people really think these signs are there to guide deer? A lot of folks are ignorant about wildlife, so it wouldn’t shock me…but still.
Here’s the verdict from Snopes:
“This letter was indeed submitted by Crown Point, Indiana, resident Tim Abbott and published by the Munster, Indiana, Times on 19 August 2011, and the missive garnered a good deal of public attention after it was read on the air by Tonight Show host Jay Leno in September 2011 and again when it was posted on the Facebook page of Star Trek actor George Takei in June 2012.
http://goodhunt.blogs.theledger.com/23512/creating-deer-crossing-sign-controversy/