ADOT urges safety with ‘haboob haiku’ challenge
Jun 13, 2012, 1:50 PM | Updated: 2:02 pm
PHOENIX — Arizona transportation officials are getting the message out
about dust-storm safety — in precisely 17 syllables.
The Arizona Department of Transportation has been encouraging Twitter users
since Tuesday to tweet haiku poems around the theme safe driving in haboobs — or
severe dust storms.
Dust storms are typical weather occurrences in the summer in Phoenix and other
desert cities.
ADOT spokesman Timothy Tait said the agency was looking for a creative way to
engage residents in its “Pull Aside Stay Alive” campaign.
Tait said motorists caught in dust storms should pull over and wait rather
drive through it.
Tait said, so far, they have seen more than 30 entries and are re-tweeting some of the best ones, including: “Choking dust monster/Approaches from windblown fields/Stop or get eaten.”
The haiku challenge runs through Friday. Entries can be found at the department’s Twitter account.