burnet44
02-22-2007, 09:15 AM
The electronic sign on the side of Interstate 4 is supposed to warn motorists of an upcoming exit.
This weekend, someone reprogrammed it with a slightly different message: "NASCAR sucks. Go home."
Florida Department of Transportation officials said a prankster with the right kind of keyboard and a password changed the sign this weekend as hundreds of thousands of race fans poured into the area.
The sign -- a 7-by-10-foot movable message board -- was posted near the Saxon Boulevard exit by the eastbound lanes, DOT spokesman Steve Homan said. An employee noticed the unauthorized message late Saturday night. By Sunday morning, the sign was switched off.
Homan said employees checked to see whether the locked box that houses the sign's electronic guts was pried open. It turned out to be unlocked, but someone still needed the correct keyboard and password, which is available to highway contractors, consultants and DOT employees.
"It was clearly someone that was familiar with that operation," Homan said, though he said DOT would not try to find the culprit. "There are just people that are inclined to use our means of communicating, I guess."
It's the first time Homan has encountered such a prank but not the first time the DOT used one of its signs to send a non-transportation message.
Several years ago, alarmed motorists called highway officials to report that cows grazing in a marshy area near the I-4 bridge were drowning.
The cattle were just sinking a little in the soft pasture, so DOT workers programmed a sign to read: "The cow is OK."
This weekend, someone reprogrammed it with a slightly different message: "NASCAR sucks. Go home."
Florida Department of Transportation officials said a prankster with the right kind of keyboard and a password changed the sign this weekend as hundreds of thousands of race fans poured into the area.
The sign -- a 7-by-10-foot movable message board -- was posted near the Saxon Boulevard exit by the eastbound lanes, DOT spokesman Steve Homan said. An employee noticed the unauthorized message late Saturday night. By Sunday morning, the sign was switched off.
Homan said employees checked to see whether the locked box that houses the sign's electronic guts was pried open. It turned out to be unlocked, but someone still needed the correct keyboard and password, which is available to highway contractors, consultants and DOT employees.
"It was clearly someone that was familiar with that operation," Homan said, though he said DOT would not try to find the culprit. "There are just people that are inclined to use our means of communicating, I guess."
It's the first time Homan has encountered such a prank but not the first time the DOT used one of its signs to send a non-transportation message.
Several years ago, alarmed motorists called highway officials to report that cows grazing in a marshy area near the I-4 bridge were drowning.
The cattle were just sinking a little in the soft pasture, so DOT workers programmed a sign to read: "The cow is OK."