Iowa is using Taylor Swift lyrics to cut down on traffic deaths

Taylor Swift may be saving lives in Iowa.

Displayed on various highway road signs around the state are modified lyrics to Swift's most recent song "Look What You Made Me Do."

"Old Taylor can't come to the phone," the sign reads, "She's driving."

Unveiled on October 2, the sign is the latest incarnation of Iowa Department of Transportation's "Message Monday" series, a weekly PSA issued on the 70 road signs around the state as part of the "Zero Fatalities" initiative launched in 2013.

Since it began, the DOT has put up a new message every Monday in an effort to curb traffic deaths. In 2016, 404 people died on Iowa highways. The state is on track to see fewer this year; by the beginning of October, it counted 246 deaths in 2017.

Many of the messages are more generic than Taylor Swift lyrics, but the state does try to keep them topical. It's included messages related to Pokémon Go and "Star Wars."

Then, of course, there is Swift's most recent lyric.

Iowa's DOT doesn't hog the board-writing spotlight. Motorists are free to submit ideas to the department for consideration in upcoming Message Mondays.

Maybe just not while they're behind the wheel, though.

SEE ALSO: Traffic deaths are surging in Japan because of all the seniors behind the wheel

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