A roadside cross is show on State Highway 55 Thursday afternoon near Marsing. The roadside crosses and flowers are often left at the site of fatal car accidents.
A roadside cross is show on State Highway 55 Thursday afternoon near Marsing. The roadside crosses and flowers are often left at the site of fatal car accidents.
TREASURE VALLEY — While Idaho allows highway memorials for those
killed in traffic accidents, others states, such as Oregon, do
not.
The private, makeshift memorials are prohibited within the
boundaries of incorporated cities in Idaho, according to the Idaho
Transportation Department.
Other states have seen controversy arise about the memorials
because of what some see as a dangerous traffic distraction and
others see as promoting religion on government property.
"If there was demonstrable truth the things were causing more
harm than good, we'd certainly look into it," Boise AAA spokesman
Dave Carlson said about the safety of the markers.
While Idaho's statute about highway memorials says the markers
can enhance public safety because they serve as reminders of
traffic fatalities, Oregon banned the markers for the opposite
reason. State leaders there saw them as traffic hazards.
Several states ban roadside memorials. Others allow them with
restrictions, like Idaho. Canyon County's four highway districts do
not have ordinances addressing the markers.
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Atheists and other groups have called the memorials, which often
bear crosses, unconstitutional because they give preference to one
religion over another on public property.
Idaho Department of Transportation guidelines for traffic
accident memorials on the state highway system:
A permit must be obtained allowing a memorial.,The memorial can
be no taller than 36 inches.,The memorial can be no wider than 16
inches.,The memorial can be no heavier than 7 pounds.,Must be
placed at least 20 feet back from the roadway shoulder (if highway
right-of-way width permits).,The permittee shall be responsible for
all maintenance, repair or replacement. ,
Idaho statute 49-1316
As a means of promoting safety upon the highways of this state,
the transportation department, the state police and other law
enforcement officers shall permit relatives or friends of a person
killed in a traffic accident upon a highway of the state, with the
consent of the next of kin of the deceased, to erect a traffic
accident memorial in memory of the decedent.
The traffic accident memorial shall be erected adjacent to the
portion of the highway where the accident occurred so that the
traffic accident memorial serves as a reminder that a fatality
occurred on that stretch of highway and that public safety will
thereby be enhanced. The transportation department shall promulgate
rules to implement the provisions of this section, to provide size
limitations the traffic accident memorial must conform to and to
retain jurisdiction over areas where traffic accident memorials are
placed.
