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This is a pile of signs and signs that were ripped out of the ground and dumped at the side of Six Mile Road in Stephens County last month. Haley Curtsinger
Apparently the summer vacation mischief is underway in southwest Oklahoma.
Thefts of several street and traffic control signs have been reported in Comanche and Stephens counties lately.
Sign theft is “a recurring problem” in Lawton, said Caitlin Gatlin, the city’s communications manager. Several signs and other traffic control devices were stolen during the Armed Forces Day Parade earlier this month, she told Southwest Ledger.
Approximately 15 signs were stolen during the first 10 days of this month, and approximately 190 had been stolen since the first of the year, according to Cynthia Williams, deputy director of the city’s Public Works Department.
Most street signs cost approximately $45 each, and large traffic signs affixed to mast-arm poles cost about $80 apiece, Williams said.
District 1 Comanche County Commissioner Trent Logan said his road foreman told him that road signs were stolen “probably a handful of times” during the past year. “Sometimes our crews will find them laying in a creekbed,” Logan said.
Those signs aren’t cheap, he added. Stop signs can be made in bulk, thus reducing the per-unit cost, but maybe only a pair or two of county road signs will need to be replaced, which raises the cost significantly, Logan noted.
“Over the years we’ve lost few” road signs “but we haven’t lost any recently,” said Kenny Kinder, road foreman for District 3 Comanche County Commissioner Josh Powers. “It comes and goes. A pole will get hit by a combine on occasion.”
“We’ve had a rash of stolen street signs, about 20 of them taken in the last two months,” said Elgin Mayor JJ Francais. “We could fill a lot of potholes with the money we spend to replace traffic signs,” he said.
Several road signs and stop signs in Stephens County were ripped out of the ground and dumped on the side of Six Mile Road in May. Those included signs for Ten Mile, Nabor and Carlson roads plus several stop signs.
The Ledger left a message with the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office, requesting details about the thefts, but the call was never returned.
Rogers County commissioners reported a spike in theft of road signs in September 2022.
Apparently no such vandalism has occurred on the state’s toll roads, according to Lisa Shearer-Salim, communication manager for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation “is not experiencing any problems with highway sign theft,” said Tara Henson of the agency’s Strategic Communications Division. District field crews reported “some” signs thefts “but nothing that alerts us or causes concern.”
The Wyoming Department of Transportation hasn’t been as fortunate. In November 2022 the WDOT reported an increase in thefts of traffic signs. Those included “Welcome to Wyoming” and “Entering Wyoming” signs, stop signs and highway route signs, too.
In February 2023, officials in Grant County, Kansas, reported an upsurge in vandalism and theft of traffic signs.
In Bozeman, Montana, law enforcement officers reported that 49 stolen street signs were recovered earlier this year and one person was arrested.
Theft of a stop sign can be “a tragedy waiting to happen,” longtime District 2 Comanche County Commissioner Johnny Owens said. “People already tend to drive too fast, and if they come upon an intersection that has no stop signs they may not slow down” to check for other approaching vehicles.
It’s not uncommon to hear that a street or stop sign has been taken to decorate a bedroom or dormitory room. Now, though, Francais, who is also the associate publisher of Southwest Ledger, said he’s heard that the latest craze is “sign parties” where the price of admission is a road, street or stop sign.