— "Women drivers, rain and Obama care" were causing problems on the beltline Wednesday afternoon, according to a traffic alert from the North Carolina Department of Transportation. "Stay home," the alert advised.

Another alert warned of "bad drivers" on Lake Wheeler Road.

DOT officials apologized for the alerts and said they came from an IT contractor, hired less than six months ago, who was performing routine tests on the alerts the agency generates.

"The individual violated procedures by failing to turn off the external feed while testing and for the inappropriate test message content. The contractor was let go immediately for this action," DOT officials said in a statement.