Hacked construction signs

In the mid 1990s, there was a story on the radio news about someone who had hacked into an electronic highway construction sign. They had changed the message to "YOU ALL SUCK." It seems the security on the sign wasn't good enough to keep the hacker out, but it was able to keep out the police and the early responding road crews, so they could not change the message or disable the sign. They eventually threw a blanket over the sign to cover the message. How funny would it be to see that message when driving to work in the morning? Very.

We've also uncovered a couple more recent electronic highway construction sign hijacks. One in West Palm Beach was a response to the mayor placing a message on the sign days before. It's an amusing story. If you scroll down through the comments section, someone has posted a censored picture of the sign. It's a bit more racy than "YOU ALL SUCK," but nearly as funny.

Another incident occurred in Michigan, when someone changed the sign to read "Speed limit 100 mph go go go." Apparently MDOT couldn't find the entertainment value in it.

And in Salt Lake City, a prankster placed Dave Chappelle's famous Rick James line on a sign. The funniest thing about this story is the quote from the UDOT spokesperson -- "It's an offensive message." Now that's good material.