JASPER COUNTY—If you travel along the highway, you've likely seen them at some point or another--personalized roadside memorials.
But in South Carolina, the department of transportation now wants to do away with them. Instead, they want people with loved ones killed in traffic accidents, to use standardized signs to honor them.
“They can remember their loved ones by another way,” stated Doug Parsons.
Parsons says he's all for the D.O.T’s decision to do away with personal roadside memorials.
“It's a distraction. People slow up. They start hitting their breaks and before you know it--that causes an accident,” stated Parsons.
Others, like Helen Barrett, disagree.
"I just think it's stupid. I went down through here and I didn't even notice them,” stated Barrett.
The new standardized signs will eventually only go on state highways and placed on the right side of the road.
If the accident happened along the interstate, the standardized memorial will be placed at the nearest welcome center or rest area.
“We ought to be able to put our own out. We don't need someone else to do it for us,” stated Barrett.
"The state law does not permit anything out on state highways--whether it's a marker or political, or peaches for sell sign, or anything like that,” stated Peter Poore with the SCDOT.
Poore says placing memorial signs out on state roads is actually a misdemeanor and if caught, a person could face a $100 fine or spend up to thirty days in jail. However, he says the law is hard to enforce.
"If we spent all of our time removing those markers, that's all the time we'd have to do. we wouldn’t be able to do our jobs,” stated Poore.
The standardized memorials won't be cheap either. The D.O.T. plans to sell them for $250 and they'll remain up for only two years.
It's the only thing Doug Parsons doesn't agree with.
"I think that's ridiculous. $250? That’s expensive," stated Parsons.
The D.O.T. will start taking applications for the new signs on August 9th.
