Sunday, December 31, 2006
South Dakota Think Signs
Scattered across the state of South Dakota are signs that are erected each time a motorist loses their life on South Dakota roads. These are the think signs, and from what I can tell, are unique to South Dakota. For many of the loved ones of the victim, these signs serve as a spiritual marker, where the family can go and grieve, and in many cases dress them up with ribbons and flowers. They are South Dakota's way of reminding motorists to drive carefully.
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These signs supposedly started appearing after SD introduced them in 1979. But very similar signs were common fatality markers in MN and SD back in the 40s & 50s. I was told then that they were put up by an insurance company.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Dean, and thanks for the information regarding the earlier signs. I wasn't aware that something like this had been done previously.
DeleteI have been to South Dakota during a motorcycle rally. Sure many have heard of it as being one of the biggest biker parties at Sturgis. Seeing these signs marking fatalities at first was disturbing. But after realizing that alot of these signs were on windy roads in the mountains made sense to me. It saddens me all the signs that has been put up. There was a stretch of road that I went down and probably seen 30 to 40 of these signs in a 5 mile distance. I just want to say RIP my fellow travelers and God bless their families. Have fun but be safe out there.
ReplyDeleteOn 79, south of Rapid City, there are 7 of these signs in a row. I am curious as to what happened. Was an entire family killed?
ReplyDeleteWe used to count all the Think Signs in S.D. but now there are only half the number than were there 2 years ago. What happened to the rest?We travel on 1-29 all the way through Iowa.
ReplyDeleteI have been looking all over the internet to find the story behind these signs. What tragedy caused the state to start putting up the signs?
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