March 12, 1999

For more information, contact: Tim Simodynes, 515-239-1349, or Steve Gent, 515-239-1129

SIGN VANDALISM IS NO JOKE - IT'S A SERIOUS SAFETY CONCERN

AMES, IOWA - Vandalized road signs - knocked down, stolen, shot or defaced - could cost Iowans more than their money, it could cost them their lives.

On Tuesday, March 9, a 58-year-old man was killed near his home in northwest San Antonio, Texas. He had been waiting at a bus stop when two cars collided at an intersection. One spun out of control, hit and killed him. Police say someone removed a stop sign that was supposed to control traffic at the intersection. Unfortunately, these types of stories are becoming all too familiar.

According to maintenance records, last year the Iowa Department of Transportation replaced over 500 vandalized state highway signs. Countless other signs were replaced by city street and county road departments. Local and state governments (and their taxpayers) are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair or replace signs that have been knocked over, covered with graffiti or stolen. But as the recent incident in Texas suggests, a vandalized sign can cost more than taxpayer money, it can result in serious injury or death.

The problem of sign vandalism has wide ranging safety and economic effects. For instance, an absence of a road sign makes it more difficult for law enforcement and emergency crews to respond to a life-threatening situation.

To address the problem and identify possible remedies, the Iowa Department of Transportation is teaming up with the Iowa County Engineers Association, Iowa Department of Public Safety, Iowa State University, the Federal Highway Administration, the American Public Works Association, American Traffic Safety Services Association and four other state transportation agencies to host a national workshop.

The "National Workshop on Sign Vandalism" will be conducted March 16-17, 1999, at the Westin Crown Center, Kansas City, Mo. The keynote speaker will be Leland Baldwin, prosecutor and chief of the Felony Division, State Attorney General's Office, Hillsbourough County, Fla.

Baldwin will speak about her involvement as prosecutor in the criminal case involving three teens - Florida vs. Nissa Baille, Christopher Cole and Thomas Miller. This "stop sign case" raised national attention to the devastating consequences of sign vandalism.

On the night of Feb. 7, 1996, a loaded semi-truck plowed into a white Camaro that drove through a major Tampa, Fla., intersection without stopping. The car was crushed and it's passengers, three 18-year old boys, were all killed instantly. The Camero drove past a marker that read "WARNING: STOP SIGN AHEAD," but there was no stop sign - - it was missing. Baille, Cole and Miller, who were later arrested, admitted to a vandalizing spree a week before the crash. In 1997, the three Floridians were convicted of manslaughter for stealing the traffic sign and were given 15-year prison sentences.

Also addressing workshop attendees will be Jim Delozier, County Engineer, Taylor County, Iowa. DeLozier chairs a national committee on sign vandalism and has been actively working on ways to reduce vandalism.

For more information about the Iowa Department of Transportation's efforts to reduce sign vandalism, contact Tim Simodynes at 515-239-1349, or Steve Gent at 515-239-1129.

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