Do you know what I mean by roadside shrines?
I don't mean the religious shrines that you see along the roads in countries like Italy of France.
Probably a better name would be roadside memorials - a marker of some sort placed where a person died suddenly, often related to a car accident.
They often take the form of bunches of flowers or crosses.
This one at the site where the body of a local murdered woman was found is taking things to extremes.
or a novel one like this
gives you a clue to how the young man was killed.
This one at the site where the body of a local murdered woman was found is taking things to extremes.
These " memorials" are beginning to be found in ever increasing numbers on the roads I travel along.
Do you have them where you live?
Do you have them where you live?
What do you think of them?
I think they are a dangerous distraction and I'm just waiting for the time when someone else is killed when they take their eyes off the road ( they are often on dangerous corners ) to peer at them to see what they are about.
I find them ghoulish in the extreme.
I thought that's what cemetaries were for !!!
Cheers.
PS. I apologise for the quality of a couple of these photo but I found them all on the Internet. They are all local memorials !!!!!!
PS. I apologise for the quality of a couple of these photo but I found them all on the Internet. They are all local memorials !!!!!!
yes, we have them here in the US too. I'm not sure what I think of them.
ReplyDeleteThey seem to have proliferated here in the UK in recent years as at one time they were unknown here. I agree with you about cemeteries being the right place for such memorials but it is also said that they can act as a warning of dangerous driving or dangerous spots along the road. What is really sad though is to see bunches of dead flowers and an air of neglect a long time afterwards. I would think tending such a memorial (though I have never actually seen anyone doing so) might prove dangerous too!
ReplyDeleteI guess the people you need to ask are the families who have lost a loved one in this way.
ReplyDeleteI know one family whose teenage son was killed by a drunk driver, they regard creating their roadside memorial as an important part of their healing process.
I don't object to them, I'm just heartily thankful it wasn't one of my kids.
I so don't like the bike one. But, it so does happen. We just lost a lady in her 40s north of us this past spring. Unfortunately, we have the same road side markers here dotting our landscape.
ReplyDeleteWe have them in England and they really annoy me! I think it's simply littering. I appreciate that people want to have some form of memorial but I think they should either plant a small shrub or something and add a plaque and/or that a law should be passed that allows people to ONLY place flowers at these sites if they remove all plastic packaging and tie them with natural fibre - no one ever comes back and take the plastic wrapping away when the flowers have died and I think that's a disgrace.
ReplyDeleteI think if they are discreet and tastefully done they aren't any more of a distraction than lot of other things in the landscape.
ReplyDeleteSome of them are distractions though and those ones shouldnt be allowed.
I guess their placement is about families and friends wanting to acknowledge the unexpected death of their loved one and if it assists them to accept that death then I dont see much wrong with it.
We have quite a few around where we live. They don't actually bother me as it is a reminder that life is very short, that someone is grieving over the loss of someone usually in very tragic circumstances.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea Louise has about planting something in remembrance but I suppose that would have to have approval from the local council as where I live they are quite concerned about the wrong sort of plants getting into the forest.
I wouldn't like a roadside memorial to be a distraction to other drivers though and I'd also rather the wrappings be taken of so as not to become litter.
We never used to see them by the roads of England but now they are pretty common. I must say that if I was mashed in a road accident I wouldn't want my family and friends to create a roadside shrine for me. I hadn't thought about the road safety issue you raised - gawping passers-by - CRUNCH!
ReplyDeleteI also live in England where we see them more and more and I don't like them. They may be seen as warnings of a dangerous spot but the very fact that people continue to place flowers there means that they are putting themselves in danger - it doesn't make sense to me. We don't return to any other spot where a person has died time and time again, so why roadsides?
ReplyDeleteThere is one not two miles from our house that is surrounded by a gravel pad and a low picket fence and is lit up at night.
ReplyDeleteI find these memorials awkward in the extreme but certainly understand why a surviving family might want to put one up. And they probably do make people aware that something terrible happened here and hopefully contribute to their becoming safer drivers.