On Monday, state road crews erected four memorial signs in honor of Steven Lennon and Sherwood Forbes, victims of drunk driving in separate accidents back in 1991.

The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports that the Lennon and Forbes families became among the first to enroll in Washington's DUI memorial sign program, which seeks to honor victims of drunk driving and raise public awareness about the dangers of drinking and driving.

Steven Lennon, who was 18-years-old at the time of his death in 1991, had been returning from Fort Lewis after an evening roller-skating with friends when a BMW crashed head-on into his Volkswagen Rabbit. He was killed instantly.

In a separate crash the same year, Sherwood Forbes, who was 40 at the time of his death, was driving his pickup back home from Tacoma when an impaired driver crossed into his lane and crashed into his vehicle head-on.

Currently, roughly 140 memorial signs are found on Washington roadways statewide. Each memorial site contains a sign warning the public not to drink and drive, and a plaque lists the name of the victim.

On Monday, the Lennon and Forbes families held a second memorial sign ceremony for their loved ones, whose sites had been removed during construction of the Burley Olalla Road interchange, which was completed in October of 2009.

The stories of these two DUI victims are tragic and sad. And yet, everybody can make a mistake of judgment. Nobody convicted of DUI ever got behind the wheel with the intention of killing somebody. Not only that, DUI penalties are harsh, and lawmakers are currently seeking to make them even harsher. Anybody accused of DUI does well to consult an attorney to ensure they receive the best defense possible.

Source: Seattle Post Intelligencer, "DUI fatality memorials dot Washington highways," Maks Goldenshteyn, 31 Mar 2011.