Why do they expend the energy, time and expense of putting up a sign rather than just fixing the guardrail? Some of these signs are not temporary things. They are mounted on steel poles that are driven into the ground. How long do they figure that guardrail is going to stay damaged? If TxDOT and DPS are concerned that a guardrail in that spot is critical to public safety, then maybe they ought to fix the guardrail rather than just warn people about it.

And if they haven't had the time or manpower to get a crew out to fix the guardrail yet, then how is a sign going to make us any safer? Will drivers see the sign and think, "Oh, wow. There is a guardrail up ahead that is damaged. I'd better not run off the road for at least the next quarter mile." Is a sign going to prevent them from running off the road? I'd bet that the guy who ran off the road and damaged the guardrail in the first place didn't really plan it that way. And I can't think of any scenario where a warning sign about a guardrail, damaged or not, would have helped prevent the original person from running off the road. Oh, I suppose that if he ran off the road earlier and hit the sign instead, the guardrail might have been protected from damage. But the likelihood to me seems to be rather low. Will the addition of a sign reduce the chance that someone will run off the road in that exact spot? Maybe a more accurate sign would help, "Don’t have an accident, especially here, because we haven’t fixed everything since the last accident". But that is kind of wordy for a sign. If a sign will help prevent people from running off the road, then maybe they should put up a sign after fixing the guardrail that says, "UNDAMAGED GUARDRAIL AHEAD".