One of my favorite driving spots in Amarillo is eastbound on I-40, just as you come over the rise and head toward the Western Street exit.

You’re greeted by a swarm of signs. They’re free-standing signs. Billboards. Banners. Even a few blinkers.

The city has placed a 90-day moratorium on new signs until it figures out whether to impose a new sign ordinance on businesses. A sign panel has been appointed to study the issue. It’s makeup is an interesting one. It includes a lawyer, Roger Cox, who has railed publicly against visual blight; Dusty McGuire, founder of Keep Amarillo Beautiful; local clothier George Raffkind; CPA Don Marsh; and Gary Cox, owner of a sign company. I don’t know Gary Cox and Marsh, but I do know the other three.

It’s a varied panel, with wide-ranging interests and, perhaps, biases.

They should ask themselves at least this key question: Would allowing more signs along major thoroughfares, such as the aforementioned I-40 corridor, help or hinder businesses that already have signs up, not to mention business owners who want to clutter up our line of sight even more?

I keep wondering every time I make that drive: Who’s able to read even a fraction of these messages when you’re blazing by at 60 mph?