In N.H., a push to mark drunk driving fatalities

With the help of lawmakers, MacLearn is pushing a bill that would allow the state highway department to post signs near the site where people have been killed by drunk drivers, as a memorial and to call attention to the dangers of driving impaired.

The signs would read “Please Don’t Drink and Drive,’’ with a separate plaque of a victim’s name attached underneath.

“The idea is to give an outlet for these families rather than these homemade signs you drive by every day and wonder what happened,’’ said Representative Jayne Spaulding, the bill’s prime sponsor.

Under the bill, families could apply for signs to be placed near the accident sites at their expense. The signs would be taken down after two years.

The state would continue its practice of waiting six months to remove makeshift roadside memorials placed illegally in highway rights of way. Bill Boynton, Transportation Department spokesman, said the state tries to be sensitive to families’ grief while respecting the rights of those who object to the makeshift memorials - which range from simple white crosses to lighted Christmas trees.

“Just like with a lot of things, we don’t like to be the memorial police,’’ he said.

Signs would be placed on state roads but not along an interstate or an interstate onramp or offramp. The bill does not cover accidents not involving drunk drivers or on local roads.

A number of other states have sign programs, though there is little consensus on the details, such as how many years to leave signs in place and whether families should pay the full cost.

Spaulding, a Bedford Republican, helped sponsor a similar bill two years ago that passed the House but was derailed in the Senate over questions about how the program would work. That bill set a three-name limit to the memorials that could be attached to sign, which raised questions about what to do if more than three people died. One senator also questioned why that bill barred drunk drivers from being eligible for signs if the purpose was to educate the public of the tragic results of drinking and driving.

The new bill raises the limit to four names and allows the state to erect more than one sign in the vicinity if there are more than four victims, but makes no provision for memorializing drunk drivers.

State transportation officials have not estimated the cost to a family to erect a sign. Two years ago, they estimated the cost at $722 per sign, but witnesses told the Senate they hoped to raise money to help those who couldn’t afford them.

Mike Pillsbury, the department’s assistant director of operations, said the agency would devise rules to handle the details, such as what to do if one family member wants a memorial and another does not.

Spaulding and MacLearn believe the program is too important to be derailed again.

MacLearn’s father, Henry Magee, 76, of Bedford, died three years ago when 20-year-old Elise Estes of Derry crashed head-on into his car after a night of partying. Estes, now 23, is being released on parole at the end of the month after serving two years of a two- to 15-year sentence for negligent homicide, according to Jeff Lyons, prison spokesman. Estes declined a request to be interviewed.

MacLearn says that if the proposed memorial signs make one person stop driving drunk, it will be worth it.

“It’s going to make a difference to one person at least. You’ll never know it, but you’ve saved two families that way. Not only was my family shattered, but her family was shattered,’’ she said.