Besting even the “blue shirt” and “Wauwatosa troll” in sheer absurdity, the City of Milwaukee has unveiled a new reckless driving mobile that looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book and costs $88,000.
Officially, the city is calling the monstrosity an “art car.” The car is a “Ford pickup truck covered in carved traffic cones,” CBS-58 reported. According to the television station, it is part of the city’s efforts to use “art-based solutions to tackle reckless driving.”
As opposed to, you know, adding more cops. Milwaukee Magazine reported that the artist’s next project may be “the installation of painted or etched human eyes around city roadways to trigger an empathic response.”
“The City of Milwaukee launched the Moving City, an art car created by our first Public Artist in Residence (PAIR) Sarah Davitt. The mobile work of art is designed to educate and bring awareness to the dangers of reckless driving. It will be used by Vision as an outreach tool at events all over the city,” the Milwaukee DPW wrote on its Facebook page, sharing a series of photos of the mobile.
“Every time I talk about this, I try to remove ‘reckless’ from the topic because ‘reckless’ is a word that is undefinable,” said Davitt, according to Urban Milwaukee. “It allows you to point a finger at everybody else. It doesn’t allow you to point a finger at yourself and say ‘What am I doing?’”
According to Urban Milwaukee, “The total cost for the project, according to a city representative, was $88,000. That included funding for Davitt and a staff liaison, as well as materials and subcontractors. The funding came from the arts board’s annual city budget allocation.”
Urban Milwaukee continued, “The funding came from arts board’s annual city budget allocations. A $25,000 annual allocation for new art was paired with unspent art restoration funding from several recent years. The Greater Milwaukee Foundation contributed $20,000 to support the staff liaison.”
The truck, which can be driven, was an unclaimed vehicle at the city tow lot that was due to be auctioned off.
“Catch it today until 1:00pm at Red Arrow Park at Heart(beats) of the City hosted by Milwaukee Downtown and then from 4:00pm-6:00pm at the Vel Phillips Plaza during the MKE Night Market. For a full list of events where you can see it visit milwaukee.gov/VisionZero,” the city’s post says.
The website turns serious, announcing, “The City of Milwaukee has adopted Vision Zero and needs your help to eliminate traffic deaths by 2037.” The city’s dashboard says 43 people were killed and 2,929 people were injured in 2,064 crashes since January.
Some of the traffic cones on the art car are “carved with city landmarks, including the Basilica of St. Josaphat, the North Point Water Tower and more,” reported Milwaukee Magazine.
That article noted that the artist “contrasts her approach with what she calls ‘punitive’ measures, like fines and speed bumps.”
You know, those punitive measures that actually stop reckless driving.
