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I'm 100% for getting rid of drunk driving, but I'm against adding even more clutter to this state's highways.
Bill calls for drunk-driving warning signs
By Lee Logan
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/01/2008
JEFFERSON CITY — A St. Louis woman is pushing for a memorial-sign program she says would raise awareness of people killed each year by drunken driving.
The proposal would allow families of those killed in alcohol-related accidents to pay $1,040 for a 2-by-3-foot sign that would be placed near the accident site for 10 years.
Gail Rehme said the program would honor her brother David, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1984 on his way home from a Cardinals game. RELATED LINK
Drunk driving memorial sign program
"That pain is still here," she said. "It never goes away." Advertisement
The House passed a bill to create the program by a vote of 82-51 this week. The bill now goes to the Senate.
The signs would model a Missouri license plate and include the phrases, "Drunk Driving Victim!" and "Who's Next?" They would be personalized with the person's initials and the date he or she died.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Bill Deeken, R-Jefferson City. A companion bill was filed in the Senate by Sen. Tim Green, D-Spanish Lake.
"It's going to make a point," Deeken said. "Some people will think, 'I wonder if that person going 80 mph behind me is drunk?'"
Deeken said drunken driving caused roughly half of all highway deaths in 2006.
Critics of the plan say the signs would add to roadway clutter and do little to curb drunken driving.
The state Department of Transportation would administer the program. The bill would ban people from putting up their own memorials.
MoDOT spokesman Jeff Briggs said homemade signs already are prohibited but that the department tries to leave them up as long as they do not pose a safety or visibility threat.
Although MoDOT is officially neutral on the bill, he said the sign program would be a safe alternative.
Rehme said she thought of the program about six years ago.
"It was close to the 20th anniversary of my brother's death, and I wanted to do something special," she said.
Last summer, Rehme set up a nonprofit that she hopes will cover the signs' cost.
"No family will ever have to worry about the price of the marker," she said. "We've been through enough."
The bill is HB1406.
Bill calls for drunk-driving warning signs
By Lee Logan
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/01/2008
JEFFERSON CITY — A St. Louis woman is pushing for a memorial-sign program she says would raise awareness of people killed each year by drunken driving.
The proposal would allow families of those killed in alcohol-related accidents to pay $1,040 for a 2-by-3-foot sign that would be placed near the accident site for 10 years.
Gail Rehme said the program would honor her brother David, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1984 on his way home from a Cardinals game. RELATED LINK
Drunk driving memorial sign program
"That pain is still here," she said. "It never goes away." Advertisement
The House passed a bill to create the program by a vote of 82-51 this week. The bill now goes to the Senate.
The signs would model a Missouri license plate and include the phrases, "Drunk Driving Victim!" and "Who's Next?" They would be personalized with the person's initials and the date he or she died.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Bill Deeken, R-Jefferson City. A companion bill was filed in the Senate by Sen. Tim Green, D-Spanish Lake.
"It's going to make a point," Deeken said. "Some people will think, 'I wonder if that person going 80 mph behind me is drunk?'"
Deeken said drunken driving caused roughly half of all highway deaths in 2006.
Critics of the plan say the signs would add to roadway clutter and do little to curb drunken driving.
The state Department of Transportation would administer the program. The bill would ban people from putting up their own memorials.
MoDOT spokesman Jeff Briggs said homemade signs already are prohibited but that the department tries to leave them up as long as they do not pose a safety or visibility threat.
Although MoDOT is officially neutral on the bill, he said the sign program would be a safe alternative.
Rehme said she thought of the program about six years ago.
"It was close to the 20th anniversary of my brother's death, and I wanted to do something special," she said.
Last summer, Rehme set up a nonprofit that she hopes will cover the signs' cost.
"No family will ever have to worry about the price of the marker," she said. "We've been through enough."
The bill is HB1406.
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