Handmade wreath honors victims of traffic crashes
Nov. 25, 2025
By Victoria Lara
DALLAS — With nothing more than her two hands and determination, TxDOT’s Marjorie Bentz has dedicated the past seven years to honoring the lives lost on Texas roads.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of #EndTheStreakTX TxDOT’s long-running effort to raise awareness about preventing deadly crashes.
Nov. 7, 2000, was the last day when no one died in a traffic crash in Texas. Since then, more than 91,000 people have been lost.
To commemorate the tragic milestone, Bentz, a TxDOT administrative assistant in Dallas, created her most ambitious tribute yet.
Bentz’s work began after a tragedy close to home reshaped how she viewed the annual remembrance. A coworker’s teenage daughter, Shayla, was killed in a crash.
“When I started this back in 2019, Shayla was always in the back of my mind,” Bentz said.
Since then, she has found new ways each year to remember the mothers, fathers, children, siblings and friends who never made it home. For this year’s #EndTheStreakTX campaign, Bentz designed a massive hand-crafted wreath to honor the thousands of lives lost each year.
“I’ve been putting this together, hand-wise, for at least two months,” Bentz said. “I strung them in quantities of 50, so each one is a series of 10.”
Thousands of beads woven between thousands of individually decorated ribbons hang from the wreath. Each ribbon holds a hand-written message for those who have lost loved ones: Love. Peace. Comfort. Prayers.
“I hope you find comfort knowing that your loved ones are not forgotten,” she said.
As Texas continues its push toward ending daily roadway deaths, Bentz says she will keep honoring every life lost and inspiring others to drive safer for as long as it takes.
In order to finally end the streak of daily deaths, it’s going to take all of us working together. TxDOT can engineer safety improvements, law enforcement can enforce traffic safety laws but it’s also up to drivers to make safe decisions behind the wheel.
To help save lives on Texas roads, it’s important to always drive like a Texan: kind, courteous and safe.
