Driven to absurdity

By David Matthews

Seattle drivers don’t read road updates, so officials ditched words altogether and went straight to cartoons.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) social media team has been using stick figures, horoscope jokes and Taylor Swift references to alert motorists about traffic conditions and road closures. And somehow, it’s working.

“We’re asking people to pay attention to heavy things,” Rachel Terlep, WSDOT’s engagement manager, told Axios. “When we can be light or humorous — delivered with a spoonful of sugar — people will actually read it.”

To make this magic happen, staff upload their boring traffic maps into a free online graphic design tool, crudely doodle over them and then post the result alongside tongue-in-cheek captions.

The approach has worked so well that their hand-drawn sketches now outperform their serious safety posts. In fact, the rougher the artwork looks, the more engagement they seem to get. 

Next up: teaching Seattle drivers to merge.

Self-Driving Gets Self-Stuck

San Francisco wasn’t laughing this July when pranksters engineered a technological traffic jam. 
Using the Waymo app, they summoned 50 robotaxis to the same dead-end street — essentially a robotic pilgrimage to absolutely nowhere.

Picture it: a herd of autonomous cars, each one waiting patiently for a passenger who would never come. No honking, no road rage, just a cul-de-sac full of confused software trying its best to interpret reality. 

Neighbors peeked out their windows to find a line of polite, well-mannered vehicles queueing like they were auditioning for a very quiet parade.

According to Road & Track, the vehicles eventually began attempting three-point turns, which, without drivers, looked less like traffic management and more like synchronized swimming for sedans. One car would inch forward, pause to consider its life choices, then pivot two degrees to the left as if hoping that might help.

Waymo called it vandalism. Tech analysts called it a cautionary tale. Others chalked it up to an inevitable clash between automated systems and the unpredictable whims of bored humans.

Eventually the cars dispersed and everything returned to normal, or whatever passes for normal after your street has been overrun by confused robots.

Fur-Wheel Drive

In São Paulo, Brazil, animal rescuer Aninha Forti faced a problem. She’d been caring for three stray cats that wandered her condominium grounds — feeding them, checking on them and making sure they had a cozy place to curl up in the common area.

Then in September the condo changed its rules. Residents were suddenly required to clear all shared spaces. No storage, no personal items… and no cat shelters. Overnight, the cats were effectively evicted by the homeowners’ association — which, as any cat can tell you, is a rude and unnecessary disruption to their nap schedule.

So Forti did what any reasonable person would do: she bought a used car.

Not to drive, but to turn into a luxury cat shelter.

Forti parked the car in the condo garage — the one place residents were still allowed to keep something on the property — and transformed the interior into a cozy feline residence. Blankets, food bowls, soft corners and enough accumulated fur to reupholster a loveseat. 

At first, neighbors assumed someone had abandoned the vehicle, until they noticed the dignified line of cats waiting to board. Before long, the “catmobile” became a community landmark: part shelter, part social club, and part purr-ivate lounge.

Forti checks in daily to refill food and water, tidy up and ensure none of her residents are attempting to learn how to operate the pedals. 

As she explained to BoredPanda.com, “It was the best way I found to take care of them beyond just feeding them… Today, the car is like their house.”

The idea has since inspired copycat (literally) rescuers in Brazil to convert more cars into mobile sanctuaries. If this keeps up, we may see car dealerships offering whisker-friendly upholstery and laser-pointer entertainment options.

David Matthews has been chronicling the unexpectedly humorous side of transportation news since 2000. The stories are all true.