People Won’t Stop Stealing 420 Mile Markers
To combat “420” mile markers being stolen, states have resorted to replacing them with signs reading 419.9
Photo: Reddit
Quick: what does the number 420 make you think of? If you were a high school kid at one time or another or have ever interacted with other human beings ever, your answer probably has something to do with marijuana.
Here’s a second question: upon seeing a mile marker with the number “420” on it, would your first inclination be to steal it? If your answer is yes, then you are an idiot and also the reason that state officials in Colorado, Washington, and Idaho are taking silly measures.
In order to combat a near-constant wave of vandalism and theft, lawmakers in the aforementioned states are now opting to post mileposts reading 419.9. This is why we cannot have nice things.
“Having a sign removed from a highway is pretty rare,” Adam Rush of the Idaho Transportation Department told The Associated Press. “In Idaho, people will shoot at them or write on them before stealing them completely. We spend more time mending signs than replacing them.”
Replacing the signs is no new phenomenon, it seems. According to Washington State DoT spokeswoman Barbara LaBoe, signs lining Highway 20 and US Highway 12 were stolen with enough frequency that it opted to make the switch to 419.9 for Highway 20 and just not replace the Highway 12 sign altogether.
News Source: AP / Photo Source: Reddit
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