{"id":698,"date":"2011-12-09T09:25:31","date_gmt":"2011-12-09T14:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/?p=698"},"modified":"2025-06-21T03:03:29","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T07:03:29","slug":"new-york-uses-poetry-to-make-roads-safer-for-pedestrians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/new-york-uses-poetry-to-make-roads-safer-for-pedestrians\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Uses Poetry to Make Roads Safer for Pedestrians"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RoadThe New York City Transportation Department<\/a> is resorting to some interesting measures to decrease risks for pedestrians \u2013 144 of them, to be exact. Featuring 12 designs from the artist John Morse, the new signs of the Curbside Haiku campaign will remind New York City\u2019s budding poetry lovers to watch the road when crossing it.\u00a0 As one sign puts it, \u201cCars crossing sidewalk: \/ Worst New York City hotspot \/ To run into friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The haiku, frequently ironic, focus on poetry and pedestrians.\u00a0 Overbearing lyric and clich\u00e9 abound. One design capitalizes on the \u201cbeauty\u201d of walking, and the word, gleefully commenting on poetry\u2019s occasional tendency toward, well, poeticizing.\u00a0 A woman, quite literally, blends into the night.\u00a0 In another, the modernist and postmodernist obsession with narrative becomes the subject of a city\u2019s banner.<\/p>\n

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\"\"And of course there is the sign featuring a pedestrian whose head is a six-sided die (pun intended), accompanied by a poem that reads, \u201cToo averse to risk \/ To chance the lottery, yet \/ Steps into traffic.\u201d Says the artist, \u201cCurbside Haiku seeks to merge public art with public awareness, to infuse a bit of beauty and joy into the public sphere with the images while underscoring the realities of the message with poetry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Morse first began sprinkling poetry all over the streets of Atlanta, where he lives and works when he’s not in his New York studio.\u00a0 In the fall of 2010, he designed 10 posters with haiku, placing them on 500 street-corners and storefronts throughout the city.\u00a0\u00a0 Called \u201cRoadside Haiku,\u201d the initiative takes familiar advertisements for singles and weight loss and turns them into art (and by the same token, takes art and turns it into advertisements for singles and weight loss).\u00a0 In \u201cCurbside Haiku,\u201d Morse brings his campaign to New York City, but this time the message is a bit more serious.<\/p>\n

This curious mix of \u201ccurbside\u201d and \u201chaiku\u201d tinges an eye-catching haiku design with a seriousness that emphasizes its mission.\u00a0\u00a0 Says City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, \u201cpoetry\u201d will \u201cmake New York City\u2019s streets even safer.\u201d \u00a0In fact, the campaign is partially funded by fines from drunk drivers.<\/p>\n

The signs of Curbside Haiku will be installed at locations with high crash concentrations.\u00a0 Expect to see them in all five boroughs, and at cultural hotspots like the Bronx Grand Concourse, MoMA<\/a>, and The New York Botanical Garden<\/a>.\u00a0 Some signs will even feature informational codes to direct New Yorkers to safety announcements from the city.<\/p>\n

For images of all designs and a map of their locations, follow this link.<\/p>\n

– R. Fogel. Research contributed by R. Sherry<\/p>\n

Related links:<\/strong>
\nHow to Deal with Slow Walkers [Core 77]<\/a><\/p>\n

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