From vaccines to glasses: Spain's DGT traffic signs spark mockery

The DGT and its signs: from road safety to unintentional comedy

On August 12, with an eclipse on the calendar, Spanish drivers had another phenomenon to watch: motorway overhead signs filled with messages ranging from the absurd to the bureaucratic. The Dirección General de Tráfico (Spain's traffic authority) has managed, perhaps unintentionally, to turn road safety into an object of mockery and criticism in equal measure.

Among the messages circulating, some stand out for their ambiguity: "Women without a name at the end of the motorway, exit 5 to 7" is a perfect example of how a sentence can sound unsettling without anyone quite knowing what it means. Others, like "Remember, driver, 120 also applies when overtaking," seem like a technical truism with a scolding face. The general feeling is that someone left an intern with access to the sign and no supervision.

The spark, however, came from comparisons with other government measures. "The government that gave away vaccines now gives away glasses," one driver quipped. The DGT's paternalistic style, which in recent weeks has drifted into what many see as an exercise in propaganda, has found its perfect parody: "No, I'm not a corrupt official, and neither is the government. The blame for your motorways being goat tracks is yours alone, driver. For your safety, carry the official DGT tyre inflator, now available on the miDGT app... Thank you for your cooperation."

The satire is not innocent. Behind the humour lies a real complaint: while resources go to poorly designed messages, the tarmac remains full of potholes. And the blame, according to the official narrative, is always the driver's.

The most baffling messages, collected by the Huffington Post, have ended up raising the level of surrealism. The question hanging in the air: will we soon see a reminder that you shouldn't watch the eclipse while driving? Better still, why not fix the roads before lecturing people?