UPDATE 06/06/16: The Texas traffic sign hackings continued into June, with a sign reading "Gorilla deserved it" spotted by CBS 11 Saturday. The sign's message, seemingly a reference to the controversial killing of a gorilla named Harambe at the Cincinnati Zoo, marks the latest in a long series of hacked traffic signs in the Dallas area:
See original story from 05/31/16 below.
Stephen Hawking may not be able to explain how Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee. Construction sign hackers in Texas, however, have one compelling theory to present: Trump is a "shape-shifting lizard." The hacked signs presented this theory early Tuesday along Interstate 30 in Dallas, according toCBS 11. Other signs also offered pro-Bernie Sanders messages and the sadly not true declaration that something called "work" had been canceled:
The Dallas area was previously hit by hackers over the Memorial Day weekend, with one traffic sign preaching the virtues of getting properly wasted:
Oddly comforting Andrew W.K. references aside, this whole "shape-shifting lizard" thing sadly has at least one foot in reality. A decidedly WTF 2013 poll from the generous part-time humorists at Public Policy Polling revealed that, despite your (clearly misguided) faith in humans, a whopping 12 million Americans genuinely believe that the nation is operated by lizard people.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is currently investigating this week's road sign hacking. In a statement to Complex, spokesperson Tony Hartzel said the department was treating this matter with urgency and asked for citizens to report suspicious activity in the future:
TxDOT takes this matter very seriously. These signs were secured and turned off until someone broke into them to enter these messages. Such actions endanger the safety of themselves and motorists, and the messages could also become a distraction to motorists driving on the highway. The signs belong to a contractor, but they are used for a TxDOT project. The department is looking at additional measures to secure the signs. We encourage the public to report any suspicious activity around these signs.Â
