On May 17th, four new traffic safety slogans in Tsugaru dialect were installed at Hirosaki City Joto Elementary School (Okubo Nishida, Hirosaki City).

The Hirosaki Traffic Safety Association's Watoku branch started the initiative of writing traffic safety slogans in Tsugaru dialect in 2007. It started with a request for "traffic safety and consideration haiku" from sixth graders at Joto Elementary School, and now they require submissions to be in Tsugaru dialect. This year, four works were awarded prizes from among the works of 43 people.

The four new slogans added this time are: "Dondakkya, smartphone, driving, dojigasase (What's wrong with this? Choose between smartphones and driving)," "Leave the house a little earlier and walk," "Obederaga? Yellow means stop, but it's a bit of a pain (You know that, right? Yellow means stop, right?)," and "Please stop at the crosswalk for a little while."

The new signs were installed next to the school gate in time for the school's sports day, which was held on May 18. According to Toshiaki Harada of the branch, previous works have been installed in the school district of Joto Elementary School, and there are 66 of them, including last year's work.

Harada smiles and says, "Among this year's works, there were slogans aimed at children rather than pedestrians, and even though I understood the Tsugaru dialect, it was difficult to understand the situation." He adds, "It may be something that children are told on a regular basis. I hope that this year too, people will be mindful of road safety and not rush to school in a panic."