Sobering signs: Roadside memorials plan seeks to increase awareness of drunken driving
Roadside memorial plan seeks to increase awareness of drunken driving
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| Erica Burrus photo/ A cross, lights, a wreath and a photograph make up a roadside memorial on Highway 370 in honor of Bridgeton police officer Scott Armstrong, who was killed in a collision with a drunken driver. |
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She graduated from high school, married and gave birth to three children. For all of these events, Gail Rehme's brothers and sisters were by her side - all except one brother, David Poenicke.
He was struck and killed by a drunken driver when Rehme was 10 year old."To not have him at my graduation was really emotional for me. To not have him at my wedding," she said. "It's hit me harder since I've been older."
In her brother's memory, Rehme, 34, of Florissant, started a campaign to memorialize people killed by drunken drivers. The prospective legislation, called "David's Law," was up for passage this session in the General Assembly, but stalled.
Rehme plans to try again. The genesis of the bill lies in Rehme's love for her brother.
A sister's love
Poenicke was 19 years old when he was killed. It was 1984. He and his girlfriend were riding home on his motorcycle from a Cardinals baseball game.
They stopped to get some fast food. A soda spilled as they were riding to the family home in Ferguson, so they pulled onto the shoulder of Interstate 70 near an interchange ramp. David got off the motorcycle. That's when a car struck and killed him.
The family didn't go to counseling. They relied on faith to get them through.
Life moved on quickly. David's funeral was on a Friday and their mother cleaned out his room before taking the family to Tennessee for a cousin's wedding that Sunday.
The affect his death had on family and friends began to echo.
Rehme's aunt, Carol Grzovic of Oakville, likened David's death to throwing a rock in a pond. The tragic event touched his family, schoolmates and co-workers at his part-time job.
"David was popular at school. He was a very likeable young man, just getting started with his life," Grzovic said. "I never personally have been at a funeral with more young people."
Her brother's death affected Rehme's choices for the next several years. She became the president of Students Against Driving Drunk - now called Students Against Destructive Decisions - at her junior high. She stayed involved with SADD in high school and also became involved with Drug Abuse Resistance Education, commonly known as D.A.R.E.
In 2004, Rehme wanted to do something special to commemorate the 20th anniversary of her brother's death. She went to bed thinking about it and woke up with the idea for roadside memorial signs.
She took the idea to the Gateway Affiliate of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD. They liked the idea, but told her it would take years to get a measure written and passed in the General Assembly. Rehme became discouraged and the idea was shelved.
Then her husband was listening to the Paul Harris Show a couple of years ago when he heard a discussion of roadside memorials. Rehme e-mailed the show and they contacted her. She spoke to Florissant Mayor Robert Lowery, who guided her to state Rep. Bill Deeken, R-Jefferson City, and state Sen. Tim Green, D-North County, who sponsored versions of the bill in the legislature.
Makeshift memorials
David's Law would establish standard highway signs in memory of people killed by drunken drivers. Many people already have been erecting memorials of their own design.
Small clusters of objects - crosses, flowers, teddy bears and other mementos - are commonplace along roadsides near scenes of fatal crashes. Some memorials have names etched on the crosses. Others are more anonymous. People usually would need to know the people killed in the crash to know who the memorials represent.
One of the area's more widely known memorials sits along Interstate 370 near the St. Louis Mills shopping mall.
The marker was erected by family and friends of Bridgeton Police Officer Scott Armstrong, who died on Jan. 12, 2005, when a drunken driver hit his patrol cruiser head-on.
Armstrong's sister, April Barthelmass of Kirkwood, now works as the victim advocate for MADD's Gateway affiliate. The memorial to Armstrong is a cross with a photograph of the officer. Barthelmass said her mother regularly goes out to place seasonal decorations at the site.
"She finds it as a comfort for her," Barthelmass said.
The state tries to discourage people from creating their own roadside memorials.
Jeff Briggs, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Transportation, said erecting the signs can be hazardous. People put themselves in danger when they park along the highways and get out of their cars to arrange or maintain a memorial.
When people call MoDOT asking if they can put out these private memorials, MoDOT offers them the option of adopting a portion of highway. Some choose this option.
Yet when people elect to risk walking along a highway and put up their own memorial, MoDOT leaves them there.
"We realize they are important to the people who put them up. We respect that," Briggs said. "If they are already up we do our best to leave them alone unless they present a safety or visibility hazard. If we can mow around them, we do."
Deeken, the state representative, has caught himself looking off the road at the signs to try to learn if he knew the person killed there. He hopes the legislation will one day pass and provide a less distracting option for grieving families and a deterrent to people who might drive drunk.
David's Law
Green sponsored a highway memorial sign bill last year in the Missouri Senate, but it did not become law. Deeken sponsored the bill this year in the Missouri House. It was combined with other modifications to Missouri's transportation laws under Senate Bill 761. The bill failed to get a reading in the final week of the legislative session, which ended Friday.
The bill would have allowed relatives of drunken driving victims to pay a $1,040 installation and maintenance fee to have the signs erected. Rehme plans to raise money to cover the fee for families that cannot afford it.
MoDOT crews would install the signs and they would remain for 10 years with the option for another 10 years.
The signs would read "Drunk Driving Victim," include the victim's initials and the month and year of the fatal crash and ask "Who's Next?"
Nine other states have similar programs. Some offer memorial signs for victims of drunken drivers. Some extend it to drunken drivers killed in crashes. Others offer memorial signs for anyone killed in a highway crash regardless of whether alcohol was involved.
Deeken said Missouri could later expand the availability of memorial signs, but he first wants to focus on victims of drunken drivers.
Last year, 991 people died in traffic crashes in Missouri - 242 of them involving alcohol. Deeken said people seeing the signs might notice the shear volume of alcohol-related traffic deaths and possibly make them think twice about drinking and driving.
"If we can get the drunk drivers off the highways, we can cut the deaths in half," he said.
Will people want them?
Barthelmass does not join her mother at the memorial to her brother. She doesn't think it's safe, so she visits her brother's grave instead. She also does not think everyone will prefer the state version.
"I think people will probably still keep putting up the personalized ones," she said. "They are going to memorialize it in a way that comforts them. It depends on the person and how they look at the situation and what they feel brings them comfort.
"Memorializing your loved one is definitely part of the healing process."
After her brother's death, Barthelmass began noticing crosses on the highway all the time. She wanted to know the story behind each memorial.
Rehme said she ultimately plans to put up a Web site that would list the initials and crash date for each state sign and tell the story of each person killed.
Rehme realizes some people will still want personalized memorials. She also said that putting up one memorial sign will make little difference, but she hopes many people will want them.
"Seeing two and three and more is going to raise awareness again and again," she said.
Grzovic said any memorial will be beneficial to the family, which is still dealing with grief more than 23 years after her nephew's death.
"I think it's some way for the family to do something," she said. "To have something to actually do - some material thing."
What have other states done?
The Missouri Legislature might someday enact a law that would allow people to have a highway sign erected in memory of a loved one killed in an alcohol-related traffic crash.
Here's what other states have done:
Alaska: Offers signs memorializing people killed by drunken drivers, intoxicated drivers who die in crashes and people killed in non-alcohol related crashes. Signs read "Please Don't Drink and Drive" or "Please Drive Safely" and list the name of the victim or sponsor for the sign.
California: Offers signs memorializing people killed by drunken drivers. Signs read "Please Don't Drink and Drive" and list the name of the victim.
Colorado: Offers signs memorializing people killed by drunken drivers. Also offers signs for intoxicated drivers killed in crashes, but only with the consent of victim's families. The signs read "Don't Drink and Drive" and list the name of the victim.
Florida: Offers signs memorializing any person killed in a traffic crash. The signs read "Drive safely."
New Hampshire: Offers signs memorializing the victims of alcohol-related fatal crashes. The signs read "Please Don't Drink and Drive" and list the name of the victim.
New Mexico: Offers signs memorializing the victims of alcohol-related fatal crashes. The signs read "Please Don't Drink and Drive" and list the name of the victim.
Texas: Offers signs memorializing the victims of alcohol-related fatal crashes. The signs read "Please Don't Drink and Drive" and list the name of the victim and date of the crash.
Washington: Offers signs memorializing the victims of alcohol-related fatal crashes. The signs read "Please Don't Drink and Drive" and list the name of the victim.
Wyoming: Offers signs memorializing anyone killed in a traffic crash. The signs feature the image of a dove flying across a broken heart.
Missouri and alcohol
Alcohol-related traffic crashes have accounted for a considerable number of deaths over the past three years in Missouri.
Fatal crashesAlcohol-related fatalitiesPercentage
2005 1,25727421.8
2006 1,09627324.9
200799124224.4
Information provided by Missouri Department of Transportation.
