Memorial crosses

On Oct. 14, 1998, a 16-year-old who had his driver’s license for only hours pulled in front of a semi-trailer at U.S. 34 Bypass and 83rd Avenue in west Greeley. All four teenagers in the car were killed.

Seven years later, four crosses still stand at the intersection where the crash occurred. People continue come to the site with candles and tears to remember the teens.

Weld County is dotted with roadside crosses, memorials to those killed in traffic accidents that have become a community problem.

In 1998, Weld County broke the state record for the number of traffic fatalities in a year. Sixty-one people died in crashes on county roads that year. The high death toll prompted the creation of the Coordinating Council to Reduce Traffic Fatalities in Weld County. The group’s goal was to look at why fatalities happened and what could be done to prevent them.

The county, one of the state’s largest, stretches from north of the Denver metropolitan area to the Wyoming border. It has 4,100 miles of roads, a challenge for law-enforcement agencies to patrol. But the efforts of the local group have met other challenges.

Spurred by the deaths of the four teens, the state Legislature passed a graduated license law, which toughened requirements for teenagers to earn their driver’s licenses.

A year after the four teenagers were killed, a Greeley high school sophomore died in a crash during a school lunch hour. Greeley Evans School District 6 closed its high school campuses during lunch.

In April 2000, the Greeley City Council passed an ordinance to make failure to wear a seat belt a primary violation, which means police can pull over a driver for simply failing to buckle up. When the ordinance went to a citywide vote in November 2000, voters rejected the measure. Opponents said the ordinance would infringe on their individual rights.

The number of traffic fatalities in Weld County decreased for a couple of years. In 2001, they jumped to 73 deaths, sparking renewed efforts to address the problems.

The numbers went down again in 2002 and 2003. But last year, the county set an astounding state record with 92 fatalities. Fifty-nine percent of those killed in 2004 were not wearing seatbelts. Alcohol was involved in 28 percent of the deaths.

Law enforcement agencies and government leaders agree the challenge is changing people’s attitudes.

Meanwhile, crosses continue to dot the county’s roads and highways, memorials to those who have lost their lives.

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