The Ripple Expands

Three years after The Crash Project began, Judge Bravo also adopted The Marker Project, a safe driving sentencing option used by other judges across the country.

But this one had added twists.

Defendants must view five roadside memorial marker sites, research crash reports and write about what happened and what could have been done to prevent the crashes. defendants also were required to clean up the sites, add something to them -- a teddy bear, real or artificial flowers, etc. -- and have a picture of themselves taken at the scene. In essence, this affected two people each time, since one was needed to take the photo.

As with The Crash Project essays, many of The Marker Project reports were emotional. A number of them were quite impressive -- submitted on art board with color photos, Internet research and additional pictures of the markers themselves.

It became obvious early on that defendants were truly being changed when they learned the markers represented real people, and when they realized the causes behind the crashes -- speeding, excessive alcohol, carelessness, recklessness, cell phone use and on and on.

More perfect examples of driving while stupid.

In the spring of 2006, during an analysis of the success of The Marker Project, a concern was voiced about liability if someone were injured as a result of being roadside at the marker sites.

As fortune would have it, during this time Judge Bravo happened to meet Robert Jakobsen. As they talked, Judge Bravo learned that Robert was a highly skilled videographer and asked if he would be interested in teaming with me, since I was familiar with The Crash and Marker Projects, to film a video on roadside memorial markers that defendants could watch in lieu of physically visiting the sites, thus eliminating any potential liability on the roadside.

Robert readily agreed. Over the next few month, he and I talked about a focus for the video. I wrote the first script one morning at 3 a.m. Over time, that storyline changed dramatically to nearly what appears in the finished video. One last minute inspiration was given me as I drove to meet everyone for the filming.

Originally, the actress daughter was to ask, as she rode with Mom and Dad, what the signs and crosses with all the flowers along the roads were. As I sat in traffic, I realized what kids do, and what we all probably did when we were young, is to count things. So the story changed to have the daughter counting and have Dad then ask what she was counting. This would lead to an explanation of what the markers represented and some reasons why people die in crashes.

This approach has seemed effective, especially to a close friend of mine who called me after he watched the video. If you've seen it, you may recall that it picks up with the daughter counting "five, six." My friend said after he watched the video, whenever he passed a marker he found himself counting "five, six."

Funny, but he's paying attention to the markers more now that he appreciates who and what they represent.