Do drivers get the message?

Every Monday for the last several months, the electronic message boards along Rochester's highways begin to light up with messages as if some jokester had highjacked the boards.

"KISS ME I'M SOBER," the state's message boards proclaimed around St. Pattie's Day. "YOU DON'T HAVE SPIDEY SENSE, PAY ATTENTION!" they wisecracked recently.

There is no doubt that the messages, a joint effort of the Minnesota departments of transportation and public safety, are having an effect, an official said.

"I usually get calls about them when they're a little more creative," laughed Kristine Hernandez, MnDOT's program coordinator for its "Towards Zero Death" campaign. One woman driver thought the KISS ME message so clever she made a T-shirt out of it.

Yet the lighthearted and whimsical injunctions, part of a broader traffic safety campaign, have a deadly serious purpose in mind: To reduce the number of traffic-related deaths on Minnesota roads.

The audience for these these pithy, Twitter-like messages are meant for anyone who drives the state's freeways. But they are geared toward a particular demographic group: Young adult males who tend to be resistant to more traditional forms of media but who also make a significant portion of traffic-related deaths.

"They tend to be more risk-takers. They don't like being told what to do," Hernandez said. "So if you make it humorous, we're giving you a traffic message, but not like we're pointing a finger at you."

Message Mondays, as the program is called, started running last November and is grabbing attention. Many are timed to holidays or movie releases, like the recently released, "Spider-Man, Homecoming." They also are a departure for by-the-book departments that are not generally known for their humor.

The messages also are the latest effort to invigorate a 13-year state traffic safety campaign called the "Towards Zero Deaths" that, by most measures, has had a remarkably successful run.

Before its conception and adoption in 2003, researchers were making dire forecasts that traffic deaths would rise steadily in Minnesota unless something different were done.

Instead, they dropped thanks to the Minnesota campaign that was inspired by a similar project in Sweden. From TZD's launching in 2003 until 2011, the number of the state's traffic-related deaths fell from 657 to 358 — a 40 percent drop, MnDOT figures show.

TZD has been an all-encompassing campaign combining engineering, education, emergency medical services and enforcement, Hernandez said. Everything from rumble strips to cable median barriers that cut down on cross-over head-on collisions was incorporated to cut down on auto deaths.

But then the drop in traffic-related deaths began to stall in 2011 and has plateaued ever since. In 2013, law enforcement began conducting extra enforcements to energize the program and curb certain traffic behaviors. Last November, it rolled out Message Mondays.

Rochester resident Nancy Werning says she appreciates the messages's informational value but also the humor. On Monday, as she was driving north on Highway 52 from Marion Road to Rochester, she noticed the electronic signs at the 11th Ave. SE exit and 12th Street SW bridge that read "Flying Mattress? Secure Your Load."

"Even if it's corny, I laugh and think about it for a little longer," Werning said. "The fact that my teenage sons say they like the signs means the information is getting across to them, too."

Some like the word play.

"I love them," said Maren Joyce Schroeder. "Iowa also has amazing signs, and I envied them until Minnesota followed suit."

Wisconsin, Arizona and Maryland are among the states that have adopted similar programs.

But not all of its messages are applauded. One message that got some moms riled up, Hernandez said, was one that read, "MOM, YOUR KIDS ARE WATCHING, BUCKLE UP!" Some viewed the message as sexist. But MnDOT officials say the message did what it was supposed to do. It got moms' attention. A similar message for dads went up on Father's Day, Hernandez said.

Some message proposals, which go up the command chains of both departments for review, don't survive the vetting process. Hernandez said a message aimed at raising biker safety, "DON'T MAKE HOGS SQUEAL, WATCH OUT FOR BIKERS!" was nixed because officials thought it would be misinterpreted.

Running the messages only on Mondays helps keep them fresh and from fading into the background, as many earnest public safety campaign signs tend to do. The electronic boards are turned off during peak drive times or when regional traffic management center officials notice a buildup of traffic congestion.

Officials say there has been a slight decline in auto-related deaths since the campaign started, but it's too early to say whether it's statistically significant.

"If they are funny and tend to be talked about, we want to generate that water-cooler talk," Hernandez said.