SAN DIEGO – An electronic road traffic sign in San Diego’s Kensington neighborhood was hacked Thursday morning and an offensive political message against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was put on the display.
Resident Mike Crawford took video of a police officer trying to figure out how to turn off the insulting sign at Interstate 15 and Adams Avenue.
“I can’t believe we saw that message on there," Crawford said.
A Caltrans official told 10News the signs are locked and password protected. Changing them can be dangerous because they distract drivers.
“The poor police officer, he had trouble turning off the sign. So he turned it off and apparently it turned itself back on."
Caltrans was able to remove the slur within about one hour. It released this statement Thursday:
"Caltrans was alerted at about 6 a.m. today that a contractor’s portable electronic sign located at the Adams Avenue on-ramp to State Route 15 had been hacked with an obscene political message. The message was turned off within the hour. Most signs of this type are physically locked and protected by a password. People who break into electronic signs endanger public safety by distracting motorists and interfering with important messaging."
