New York’s highway signs honoring Dolly Parton may have violated federal safety guidelines meant to keep drivers focused on the road.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, 66, approved the digital message boards that lit up across the state last Thursday and Friday, just days after the country music icon died at age 80 on Tuesday. The signs deployed pun-filled safety reminders cribbed from Parton’s biggest hits, including “Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, don’t speed” and “I will always love safe driving,” references to “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You.”
The gesture ran afoul of Federal Highway Administration rules rolled out in late December 2023 by the Biden administration, which mandate that road signs be “simple, direct, legible and clear.” The guidelines, which states must enforce within two years, explicitly discourage “obscure” messages or pop-culture references that take “greater time to process” for drivers at highway speeds.
Jay Beeber, chief government affairs and policy officer for the National Motorists Association, said the Parton tributes crossed into risky territory despite their innocent intent.
“[This guidance means] you shouldn’t do that because it could increase cognitive load and it could be distracting,” Beeber explained. “It’s kind of of a suggestion.”
The highway administration clarified when issuing the rules that the regulations don’t include “a ban on humor,” instead encouraging state leaders to use discretion about when cleverness compromises clarity.
Hochul spokeswoman Alexia Nizhny defended the signs as serving a dual purpose for motorists.
“While honoring the legacy of Dolly Parton, the variable message signs now being displayed along state highways also remind motorists that road safety isn’t just 9-to-5. We urge drivers to stay alert and drive responsibly at all hours,” Nizhny said.
Beeber dismissed that rationale as hollow, arguing the wordplay undermined any genuine safety mission.
“The speeding message, it’s clever…it references Dolly Parton, who everybody loved. But does it do anything? No, it’s not helping us,” Beeber said.
The signs weren’t the only tribute Hochul’s administration organized. On Thursday, 17 landmarks across the state were illuminated pink in remembrance of the singer and philanthropist, including One World Trade Center and the Roosevelt Island Lighthouse.
The cheeky signs occupy a gray zone: not outright illegal under federal rules, but squarely in the territory the highway administration urged states to avoid. The cognitive load concern centers on whether drivers parsing a pun at 65 miles per hour are slower to register actual hazards ahead.
Neither the Department of Transportation nor the Federal Highway Administration responded to requests for comment on whether New York’s tribute would prompt any enforcement response.
Parton died Tuesday at 80, triggering an outpouring of memorials across the entertainment world and beyond. The New York highway signs joined that wave, repurposing infrastructure meant for accident warnings and congestion alerts into a public eulogy for a cultural figure whose career spanned six decades.