Interstate 5 immigrant crossing signs

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) erected the signs in 1990 in response to over one hundred immigrant pedestrian deaths due to traffic collisions from 1987 to 1990 in two corridors along Interstate 5 along the San Ysidro Port of Entry at the Mexico–United States border and approximately 50 miles (80 km) north at the San Clemente United States Border Patrol checkpoint in Camp Pendleton.

[1] Eventually the signs became obsolete after Caltrans erected fences in the freeway's median, and the Border Patrol implemented Operation Gatekeeper in 1995, forcing illegal immigration attempts further east.

[2] Immigrant smugglers adopted the tactic of dropping off their human cargo on the shoulder or median of the freeway prior to passing through the checkpoint.

[1] The running family silhouette supplemented all-text signs advising drivers "Caution Watch For People Crossing Road".

[1] The running family silhouette signs were erected starting in September 1990,[2] and it is not known how effective they were in reducing traffic strike fatalities before the implementation of other physical measures.

[3] Eventually, Caltrans built a tall fence in the I-5 median south of the San Clemente checkpoint, which effectively precluded the checkpoint-avoidance traffic-crossing tactic at Camp Pendleton,[2] and the Border Patrol implemented Operation Gatekeeper in 1995, which erected a tall fence along the San Diego–Tijuana border, moving illegal immigration attempts further east into the desert.

[3] Caltrans graphic artist John Hood, a Navajo Vietnam War veteran, created the image as an assignment in response to the sharp rise in immigrant traffic deaths.