Since 1994, the Washington Department of Transportation has operated a roadside memorial program that allows for the creation and installation of signs along state highways in honor of victims of fatal collisions. Washington was the first state in the nation to start a roadside memorial program, and there are now more than 1,000 signs posted along state highways bearing a message such as “Reckless Driving Costs Lives” or “Please Don’t Drink and Drive” above the name of a crash victim. Nearly 70% of the roughly 500 signs installed in the first 15 years of the program are still standing.
The Columbian recently reported on WSDOT’s current efforts to collect public feedback about the future of its roadside memorial program and possible changes to it, such as limiting how long the signs can be up for and how often they can be renewed by family members. Kelly Moyer, a staff reporter at The Columbian, joins us for more details, including concerns that family members who had paid for memorial signs shared with her.
We also hear from Sarah Risser, the treasurer and board member of the Portland chapter of the national nonprofit Families for Safe Streets. In 2019, while Risser was driving with her 18 year-old son in Wisconsin, a motorist crashed into the vehicle, killing her son and leaving her injured. Last year, Risser placed a sign honoring victims at every fatal crash site in Portland, and she has also created bike memorials at the request of families of cyclists killed on Portland roads.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. In 1994, Washington became the first state in the country to create a roadside memorial program. It lets people honor victims of fatal collisions on state highways with signs bearing the victims’ names. There are now more than 1,000 signs in place all across the state. But as reported recently in The Colombian, the Washington Department of Transportation is now asking for public feedback on potential changes to the program, including limiting how long the signs can be up for and how often they can be renewed by family members.
Kelly Moyer is a staff reporter at The Columbian. She joins us now with more details. It’s great to have you in the studio.
Kelly Moyer: Thanks, Dave. Thanks for having me on.
Miller: What was your spark for doing this story?
Moyer: It was just a simple press release and it was calling for public input into some possible changes. Every day, on my way to and from work, I drive past a few of these signs, actually, on Highway 14. One of the signs is in place for two young women who were killed about 18 years ago. So I started thinking, how must the families feel knowing that they’ve been told these signs are up indefinitely and then perhaps making changes at this point. So that’s what sparked my interest.
Miller: Well, let’s hear more about one of those signs that you were just talking about. You talked to a woman named Laurie Shattuck. Can you tell us her family story?
Moyer: Yes, Laurie is the mother of Chrissy Shattuck. Chrissy and her best friend Jessica Blank were out for Chrissy’s 21st birthday. It was in April of 2007 – 18 years ago – and it was Chrissy’s actual 21st birthday. They had gone to Portland for the night, they were not drinking. They were returning home to Camas on Highway 14 and it was around 3 a.m. A woman who had been drinking that evening was headed the wrong way on Highway 14 and she hit their vehicle head on. Chrissy and Jessica were both killed.
Laurie, Chrissy’s mother, has since moved to Texas. They have relatives and friends in the area who come to the sign, make sure the litter is cleared, they sometimes attach flowers, and send photos to Laurie and update her on how the signs are doing. So she was shocked to find out that the Department of Transportation was considering changes. She had not received a letter.
Miller: Oh, how did she find out, then?
Moyer: Through me.
Miller: So you called her to ask what she thought about these proposed changes and she said, “What changes?”
Moyer: Exactly. And I said, [the state] had said that they sent letters to all of the families, but I know they were having a hard time finding some updated addresses. And she said, “Well, no, we haven’t received any word.” So she sprung into action. When she lived in Washington state, after Chrissy and Jessica were killed, Laurie was very active in the schools, going in and talking about drunk driving prevention and the ramifications of what happens when you get behind the wheel impaired. So she has since reached out, from what I understand, to friends and family and asked them to weigh in on the Department of Transportation’s questions.
Miller: Before we hear more about those changes and more about Laurie’s story, I think it may be helpful to hear the basics of how this works. If I’m a family member and I want to have a memorial put up for a loved one who died in a traffic collision on a Washington state highway, what do I do?
Moyer: There’s an application process you need to go through and the cost this year has increased to $1,500 per sign. It was $1,000 in 2024 and had been less than that in the years past. You have to prove that it was a fatality on a state highway. And then there are 12 options: “Please Don’t Drink and Drive,” “Please Drive Safely,” “Watch for Pedestrians,” “Watch for Bicyclists” – those types of options. So you pick your option. Then below the large sign, there’s a smaller sign that says, “In Memory of …” That’s where the people’s names will be.
Miller: Can you explain how the program has expanded since it was first created?
Moyer: It started in 1993 and initially it was just for people who had been killed in DWI incidents. You either had to prove that the other driver had been found guilty of vehicular homicide, or if they also had died, that they had died with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or higher. So that’s how it started.
And then around 2007, they did some research across the state, some public input. They found that people were interested in expanding and having not just impaired drivers. So they did expand and they have now opened it up to any fatality along the highway, including pedestrians and bicyclists.
Miller: Oregon, which has had a program for almost as long as Washington, only has 67 signs total. I called the administrator of that program this morning. She gave me that updated number. So 67, compared to more than 1,000 in Washington. But it does seem notable that, unlike Washington, Oregon did not increase the kinds of cases where these signs would be allowed. It’s only for victims of impaired driving from drugs and alcohol, that’s a decision that Oregon has made. How common are these kinds of programs around the country now?
Moyer: From what I understand, there are about 15 states that have actual programs in place where you go through the application process. And more than 30 states have some form of … you can do a private roadside memorial or something like that, but it’s not an official state program. And the costs vary and the range of sign options vary by state, of course. In Oregon, it’s $600 per sign. In California, it’s $1,000. In Washington state, it’s $1,500 now. So, state by state, it varies.
Miller: What kinds of changes is the state of Washington talking about right now?
Moyer: The two main changes that they are thinking about are limiting the number of years that the signs can be in place. Other states do have that. Oregon is seven to 10 years, I believe. And Washington had proposed at one point also limiting the number of years, but then it just sort of fell by the wayside and was never imposed. So they are looking at possibly a six-year to 10-year time frame.
If the sign is in a state of deterioration, then they are also considering allowing renewals. So you would pay the same fee and get a new sign once it deteriorated or hit that 10-year mark, and they could limit the number of renewals. So those are the two big ones.
Miller: And it is worth underlining there, what you mentioned in passing, which is that Washington is now considering a set of rules that wouldn’t be super different from what other states, including Oregon, already have in place. But still, what are the reasons for these proposed changes? Why is it that Washington officials are talking seriously about enacting new rules that would remove some of these signs from Washington highways?
Moyer: From what I understand from the Department of Transportation, they were looking at the program as a whole and saying some of these highways, they feel that there are too many signs, perhaps. They say there is more traffic, more clutter along the sides of the highways nowadays, so reducing that sort of visual clutter along the sides of the highways.
They also say a lot of the signs have deteriorated since they were put in place. There are more than 300 signs that were initially part of the original program in the first 10 years and they say some of those signs are really in bad states. They sometimes have a hard time contacting families to see if they could pay for upkeep.
Miller: There is a certain irony here. I mean, the signs were put up both as memorials, but also, if I understand the thinking correctly, as a kind of warning or a reminder that there’s something inherently deadly about getting behind the wheel, especially if you’re impaired, distracted or speeding. I think the idea is that if you see these signs, you might be less likely to do those dangerous things. But is the state also saying or implying that at a certain point, some number of signs, itself, becomes a danger?
Moyer: I think that that was the implication. So they’re taking feedback through October 15 to see how, not just the families, but members of the public feel about removing some of these signs.
Miller: So you were talking about having talked to Laurie Shattuck before, whose daughter was one of two friends who were killed by a drunk driver 15 years ago. What did you hear from families of other victims?
Moyer: It was difficult to find the families of some of the victims, some of the people who have been killed on Clark County state highways. It happened in the ‘80s or early ‘90s and some family members are deceased now [or] they’ve moved out of state, like Laurie.
I was able to contact the sister of a young woman named Tatyana Tupikova. Tatyana lived in Battle Ground. She lived less than a mile away from the Battle Ground Cinema, which was along State Route 503. It’s a state Highway, but it has sidewalks, it has commercial land uses along it, so a lot of people do walk on the side of that highway. And she had walked to the cinema. She was 22 years old at the time, and she was on her way back and she disappeared. They had video footage showing that she had left the movie theater. Two days later, a passerby found her body on the side of the highway. The police believe she was the victim of a hit-and-run driver and they never did find the person who hit Tatyana.
I spoke with her sister. She was one of 14 children and she still has a lot of family members in the area. Her sister said she still goes to the sign. Tatyana was killed in 2007 and she said she still visits the sign. She still thinks of her sister every time she passes by that spot, as do other family members. And they were really hopeful that it would, as you said, remind people of the consequences of being distracted, speeding or just driving dangerously.
Miller: Has working on this story changed the way you think about those signs? I mean, you said at the beginning that you go by some of these signs on a daily basis. I wonder how much you paid attention to the names in the past and if you do more so now, not just the people who you’ve contacted, but others who remain strangers to you.
Moyer: I think part of being a reporter, I’ve always been curious about the names that I pass, but I also have a family history. We lost a family member on I-5 to a distracted driver, so in my mind I know the pain that these families have gone through and what it means to have these signs, and have not just a reminder of your loved one, but a reminder to not text and drive, not drive impaired.
Miller: Kelly, thanks very much.
Moyer: Yes, thank you.
Miller: That is Kelly Moyer. She is a staff reporter at The Columbian. She recently wrote about proposed changes to the Washington Department of Transportation’s roadside memorial program for victims of fatal collisions.
We turn from official state memorials for victims of fatal collisions to similar memorials created by activists. Sarah Risser is a treasurer and a board member of the Portland chapter of the national nonprofit Families for Safe Streets. Six years ago, when Risser was driving with her 18-year-old son Henry, an oncoming motorist crossed into their lane and crashed into their vehicle. Sarah was injured. Henry was killed.
In an essay about her experience, Sarah wrote, “Once I began to see how much we’ve sacrificed to our autocentric lifestyle, I couldn’t unsee it.” Last year, Risser placed a sign honoring victims at nearly every fatal crash site in Portland over the course of 2024. She has also created bike memorials at the requests of families of cyclists killed on Portland roads, and she joins us now. Thanks very much for coming in.
Sarah Risser: Thank you. I’m happy to be here.
Miller: Before we talk about the memorials you’ve put up and your thoughts about the conversation I had with reporter Kelly Moyer, I wonder if you could just tell us a little bit about your son?
Risser: Oh, thank you for asking. Henry was really just coming into his own at the time of the crash. He had recently turned 18, just celebrated his birthday. He had one semester at Bowdoin College in Maine and he was home for winter break. He just had a heart full of love. He was hugely enthusiastic about so many things and he wanted to take up Nordic skiing to cross train for rowing. He was on the competitive rowing team.
So we set off to drive from St. Paul, Minnesota to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where there was decent snow, when our crash happened. Henry really had so much going for him. He was doing well academically, really had a heart full of love and joy, and had recently fallen in love. Things were going really well for him at the time of the crash.
Miller: How much had you thought about road design before that?
Risser: I had not thought deeply about road design before losing Henry. I know from reading past journals that I was concerned, have always been concerned about the number of cars that are on the road. And I have always longed for a car-free or a car-light lifestyle, but really I was radicalized after losing Henry. It really opened my eyes to the dysfunction of our transportation system.
Miller: Can you tell us about the project I mentioned briefly in my intro, which is, I guess, part of your response to that radicalization? Why did you decide to put up signs for nearly every fatal collision that happened on Portland streets last year?
Risser: Well, Portland has seen a pretty astronomical rise in road fatalities since about 2010. Now this has tapered off a little bit. This year and last year, as well, were not quite as bad as 2023, but I was well aware that Portland has a real problem, as do a lot of cities around the country. And my thinking behind this project was that if we can get a sign up for every road fatality, people hopefully will start noticing these signs and people will start connecting the dots. And it might help to underscore the extent of the problem, which I think for a lot of people is not front of mind.
Miller: Can you describe the signs that you put up?
Risser: Sure, I can describe the signs. They’re bright yellow and black. At the top of the sign, it says, “Our neighbor was killed here.” And then I go into a little bit of detail about the year 2023, which was particularly horrific, both in Portland and across the country. I list statistics as to how many people were killed. Then there are links for people who want to get involved, either to learn more about the issue or to link up with advocacy efforts. And then I have the logos of the four cooperating nonprofits that helped with this project.
Miller: But the biggest font, the biggest design piece of this are those words, “Our neighbor was killed here.” How did you come up with that specific language?
Risser: Well, I will tell you that there was a lot of discussion about it. There was a lot of discussion about saying “killed,” versus, “died.” Those two terms evoke very different feelings. I remember for about a year or so after losing Henry, I said, “Henry died. Henry died in a crash.” Or I probably was still using the word, “accident.” Then I very intentionally shifted my language. And I remember distinctly the first time I said, “Henry was killed,” it hit very differently. It felt very different. It felt much more severe and impactful. I think it’s more accurate. Henry was killed in road traffic.
Miller: That’s the verb, but the subject in the sign is really important too, it strikes me … “Our Neighbor.” How did you choose that?
Risser: Well, there was a lot of discussion around the word “neighbor,” as well. Some people feel that if you use the word neighbor, it refers only to somebody in a very close geographic proximity. We talked about it and we came to the conclusion that neighbor signifies somebody in the community, or somebody who needs help, or somebody that we would like to help. So it was very intentional, the wording on the signs.
Miller: You know, I’ve been trying to figure out my emotional response to it, especially in comparison to the signs that we were hearing about before, where in Washington and in other states as well, it’ll say things like, “Fasten Your Seatbelt,” and then the actual name of somebody who was killed.
In this case, your signs don’t have people’s names, but there’s something inclusive and maybe implicating about it. It’s not somebody I’ve never heard of, it’s my neighbor. That’s a language you’ve gone with. I’m curious what kinds of responses you would get when you would put these signs up, if people ever would go up to you.
Risser: Absolutely. I’m really glad you asked that question. And of course, a lot of my experience putting up these signs was me traveling to the crash site. I would put up the sign and, depending on where it was, I might not see anybody at all – if I was on Columbia Boulevard, for example, where the traffic is moving so quickly.
But there were a couple of situations that were notable. The first was on Southwest Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway. There was a pedestrian who was killed. I went to put the sign up and I noticed that there was already a bouquet of flowers at the crash site. And as I was putting the sign up, a woman approached me, literally with tears in her eyes … and I’m not saying that to be dramatic, it’s absolutely the truth.
She thanked me and she went on to tell me that this has been a concern of the neighbors. Everybody has been worried about something like this happening. Everybody thought it was only a matter of time. And she shared a story about her granddaughter, who she takes care of, and her daughter who chose very specifically not to live on that street because it was so dangerous. So, there was that.
There are many other examples. I put a sign up at Southeast 55th and Burnside. A woman riding a motorcycle was killed at that intersection, and again, the community, multiple people came up and talked to me about how dangerous that intersection is and how grateful they are that somebody is drawing attention to that danger.
Miller: What was it like for you personally, to put up sign after sign after sign?
Risser: I found it … excuse me for stuttering a little bit. I actually found it to feel like a great honor to go to these sites, to be at these locations where somebody had lost their life and do my part to show the community, and hopefully the family, if they were aware of it, that there are people in the community who care. There are people in the community who are working on this issue. It felt, again, like an honor to me to do this work.
Miller: I’m talking right now with Sarah Risser. She is a treasurer and a board member of the Portland chapter of the nonprofit Families for Safe Streets. Did you get permission for these signs?
Risser: No, I did not. I did not get permission for these signs. I have been in touch with people who work for the city. They’re aware that I’m doing the project. They told me in no uncertain terms that if I put a sign where it might pose a danger or be in the way of any kind of public works, it will probably be taken down.
Miller: I should interrupt just for clarification, because it may not be clear to people. There’s a very big difference in the scale. The first segment was about official signs put up by Washington DOT, those are big signs on state highways. What you’re talking about is, it seems almost like a piece of paper, size 8.5 by 11.
Risser: It’s bigger than 8.5 by 11, and I wish I had the exact dimensions.
Miller: It’s visible, but it goes on a telephone pole, as opposed to a big sign that would be stuck in a stake. So you didn’t get permission, but also, no one said, “You can’t do this.”
Risser: Correct.
Miller: What do you think about the changes that Washington is now considering and their stated reasons for those potential changes of not wanting to further distract drivers?
Risser: I have a couple of thoughts about that. The impetus behind my project was really to raise awareness and I thought it would be really effective if people saw a lot of signs. If there was just one sign, I don’t think it would be so impactful. So my thinking was that if motorists were out and about in Portland and they saw sign after sign after sign, that was really going to send a message that was impactful.
And I think that that is true for the situation in Washington, as well. I think there’s an upside to having a lot of signs that are drawing attention to this issue. Moreover, the message that is being sent is to be more careful, to drive more safely. And we can’t reinforce that message enough. I feel quite strongly about that.
I also would like to draw attention to the fact that these signs have been paid for by family members, and they are very important and they’re very meaningful for family members. There’s no expiration date on the grief that families carry when they lose a beloved family member. There’s more that I could say about that, time permitting.
Miller: I do want to ask you about the ghost bike memorials that you’ve also taken part in. For people who may not be familiar with these, sadly, there are a lot as you go around Portland. But I have a feeling some people may not know exactly what they are. Can you describe them, first?
Risser: Sure. What we do when we do a ghost bike memorial, we get a bike – and I just want to give a plug to the Community Cycling Center who has provided us with all of the bikes that we’ve used – I take it home, I scrub it down and then we apply layers of white paint to it. So it’s a white bike that is then placed at the crash site and it serves as a memorial. People often come and they’ll leave flowers or signs. They’re quite powerful.
Miller: Have you actually painted them?
Risser: I have.
Miller: What goes through your mind when you’re doing that?
Risser: Well, I think I want to make it as perfect as I possibly can. I think about the family and I think about what this is going to mean to them. I, again, feel like it’s an honor. It’s an important job that I take on and I take it seriously.
Miller: Could you tell us about one of the bikes you’ve put up?
Risser: Yeah, I have a couple of stories. My first ghost bike was for Jason Ruhmshottel. His family had reached out to Bike Portland, and Bike Portland reached out to me, so the family had initiated that one. Jason Ruhmshottel was killed in 2023. So I worked for a week or so, getting this ghost bike ready. Then the community showed up, along with Jason’s family, and we installed the bike at the site of the crash, which happened to be on North Portland Road. It was just a really beautiful gathering. The family was there. There were lots of flowers. There was a picture of Jason. We had a moment of silence. It was really meaningful for the family.
And I just want to say that I went back to visit that ghost bike in early November and the family had decorated it in such a joyful way for Halloween. It just really underscored the fact that this was a really important memorial to the family and also just how loved Jason was. It was quite powerful to me.
Miller: Have you considered an official roadside memorial for your son?
Risser: I think that if the crash had happened closer to where I live, I would consider that very seriously. But as it turns out, it’s a good three hour drive from when I was living in St. Paul, Minnesota and now it’s halfway across the country. So I feel that if I had a roadside memorial for Henry, it would be a place that I would want to go frequently and I would want to maintain it, and that’s just not possible for me to do.
Miller: You wrote a powerful essay on the Grappling with Grief website two years ago and it had this line: “The burden of grief often feels debilitating, and sharing my story over and over can be exhausting and retraumatizing.” Would you put the work that you’re doing, this activism and spending time with families who have endured variations of the grief that you are still grappling with … is it in the same category? Is it also exhausting and retraumatizing?
Risser: I think that it can be hard work at times. I apologize for repeating myself, but this memorial project has really felt like my way to honor other people in the community. I think when I’m testifying in front of legislative bodies or trying to convince city council to do something, that can feel really exhausting. But this is really based in community and it’s for community, and it feels really heartfelt. So to me this is in a slightly different category.
Miller: Sarah Risser, thanks very much for coming in. Sarah Risser is the treasurer and a board member of the Portland chapter of the nonprofit Families for Safe Streets.
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