Georgia Recognizes Roadside Drunk Driving Victim Memorials

Anyone who has driven the two-lane highway between Georgia and Panama City, Florida has seen the many crosses along the roadside, each representing a victim of a fatal automobile accident. Many of these fatal collisions involved college students and drunk drivers. These unofficial memorials or marker have usually been placed by family and friends.
A young victim killed in a drunk driving accident, seventeen year-old Donny Ray Harris Jr., will be the first drunken driving victim in the state of Georgia to be remembered with an official highway marker, erected under a state law the governor Sonny Purdue signed just 13 days before the fatal car crash. Georgia is among a growing number of states that give official status to landmarks of fatal drunk driving accidents. The markers will be put up for five years and will read “In Memory Of,” followed by the accident victim’s name and “DUI Victim.”