Over the past 2-3 years, I've noticed a vast number of these little memorials popping up all over the place.  Ends of center medians, some guy's lawn at a T intersection on my street, the end of a guard rail every two miles around here.

So, curious to find out what you thought about these things?  After a couple weeks, get rid of 'em.  The poor bastard down the street has his lawn as the top of a T intersection.  Some dumb speeding fvck comes ripping down the street, right onto his lawn, into his 3 foot wide oak every year.  Families put up a shrine last summer.  Everything died.  Instead of cleaning it all up, they keep coming and putting more crap on his lawn.  Looks like an abortion of a yard sale.

So, some drunk ass slams into an innocent.  Ok, the innocent's family puts up a two week memorial, no problem.  Some drunk ass hits a pole, and his friends put up a perpetual memorial on some guy's lawn.  Would you tell them to F-off already???

I think the whole memorial thing should be better saved for big events like 9-11 or such.  Everybody's got a friggin memorial somewhere and it looks worse than littering.

[pyro]Nomex on, flame away. [flame]

Yes and no. I wouldn't want a mess on my property either. But if you had well designed attractive shrines that stayed out for say 5 years, I think you would be surprised just how deadly the automobile is. I think we do to good a job of sanitizing the results of car crashes. Maybe it would help the young'uns put into perspective how much of a responsibility driving really is.

I like what South Dakota does. Every place someone dies in an alcohol related crash, they put up a (small) sign that just says "Think". Not real expensive, not an eyesore, and they do make a person think, especialy when you see those bad curves with 5-8 of those little signs dotted around the ditch.

Aviator  [img]www.milpubs.com/aviator.gif[/img]

I vote no on shrines. Have you ever noticed wherever there is an accident there usually are more fender benders happening. The "lookieloo" syndrome is dangerous and contributes to more accidents. In New Orleans they do this thing where they take a destroyed car and put it on the side of the road I guess to warn you of the hazards of careless driving. This seems completely ass of nine to me and no doubt been the cause of even more accidents.

Almost three years ago an 8 year old boy was killed in an accident 5 blocks from where I live. It was a freak accident. The boy was on rollerblades going down a short hill and a mini-van started it's turn onto the street. The van was almost stopped, but the boy couldn't avoid running into the side of the van. A very tragic accident that was nobody's fault.
The family erected a memorial near the site that's still there to this day. There's at least one candle burning almost continuously since the memorial was first built. There are a lot of stuffed toys and ceramic figurines. Ballons appear occasionally, along with bright ribbons and streamers. The memorial is well kept, and the homeowner has restructured his lawn to accommadate the display.
I see nothing wrong with this outpouring of love for a child tragically lost. If a memorial helps a family and friends deal with the grief of losing a son or daughter, brother or sister, friend or classmate, then by all means, let it be.

Can he write off the chunk of lawn as a donation based on lost real estate / taxes?
[}:(]

I can see it now, one of my friends driving down the road as they pass my memorial:

"And over there is where Balming REALLY fucked up!"


Balming

Memorials are for cemeteries.

I have mixed feelings about the memorials.
If it was an innocent person tragically killed and the memorial brings comfort to the family and friends then I understand.
The ones erected for drunk drivers that happen to kill themselves I'm totally against.

I remember a few years back a guy I went to school with who had married a neighbor of mine was driving drunk and hit a big fat tree and killed himself. Suddenly there was a memorial erected and eventually the property owners cut down the tree as some kind of tribute. The odd thing was that if the tree wasn't there he might have continued on into someones house or maybe killed some kids playing on the lawn.
That tree might have saved someones life next time a drunk driver comes down the street.

It is getting out of hand.

The subsequent signs are probably from idiots trying to read the first sign and not paying attention to the bad curves.

When you see the crosses on expressway median, it means someone pulled off into the median to plant this cross, thus creating another hazard.

Let me tell you a little story:

We had a guy in our county who liked to drink hard, smoke a lot of dope, and beat the crap out of his wife on FREQUENT occasions.

Once, we got an anonymous report (from his teen daughter: his kids hated him) that he was throwing eggs at his wife.  

Turns out he beat her up, and while she was in the shower afterwards, he dumped catsup and mustard on her.

When she got out of the shower, he promptly broke a dozen eggs (separately) on her head.

When I arrived, she still had egg and shell in her hair while they were sitting on the couch trying to "work out their problems":

He also had a few bongs and paraphernalia pipes along with about 5000 (yep, 5000) marijuana seeds in glass jars and film canisters.
He got a ride to jail.

A month later (don't ask me how he got out), he was arrested by another Deputy for pounding on his wife again.

The wife then gets an order of protection against him:
They are to have no contact, but the teen daughter calls us constantly about him being at the house, but we always just miss him:

The always beaten wife is inviting him back in.

About 6 months later, I was working dispatch when a fatal traffic crash came in:

He was driving drunk (while suspended of course) with his wife as a passenger when he lost control, and flipped and rolled.
He got ejected, and was "D.R.T." (dead right there).

The wife survived, and a few weeks later, while cycling past the spot, I noticed a roadside memorial for this outstanding person, but I couldn't figure out who put it up:
Maybe his mother?

I thought of dropping off a few items for his roadside memorial myself:

A bong, a pipe, a few marijuana seeds, a bottle of Jack, a 12 pack, a dozen eggs and for good measure, and copy of his criminal history and his driving record.

A few months later, I figured out who put the roadside memorial up for this wife beating, dope smoking, alcoholic.

While patrolling the area of the crash, I noticed a new ADOT "litter" sign:
You know, the litter on this mile is picked up by (place your name here):

It reads "in memory of ***** *** ****** (his name)from his loving wife and children":

His wife put the memorial up.

Yes Sir: It's all just trash to me.

Jay
Arizona

I don't mind the little white crosses, but anything else is a bit much.

I have seen very small white crosses attached to trees at a few of my favorite ski resorts too... and that's why I don't ski amongst the trees!

In Florida they let it go for about a week. Then they haul off all the stuff and place a very tasteful little round sign on the spot that's too small for drivers to even attempt to read but is still there if someone wants to stop and mourn for a while.
A small gesture, but better than nothing.

I don't like to see them.  They're usually trashy, and I think they're depressing.  I don't mean to be callous or unfeeling, but there's a place for this kind of display ... it's called a cemetary.  

Remembering and honoring lost loved ones is a good thing, but keeping the horrible memory of a loved one lost in a tragic accident in the forefront of your life is not.  IMO, these memorials are not good for the grieving families.  They need to let go and get on with their lives instead of being reminded of it every day. It's not healthy.

I thought all of these classy types had the middle name "Wayne".

I say let grieving parents display these small momentoes in whatever way they deem fit and proper.

We name highways after dead men, can't we give a square foot for a dead child?

Eric The('DrunksAgainstMadMothers'?)Hun[>]:)]

Eric The Hun, you sir, are right again.

C&L...white crosses I can live with.  Morbid but OK.

It's the ones that look like a Mardi Gras parade that get my attention.  Can't get over the idea they're a shrine to Santeria cooking.

Fellas,
  I lost a girlfriend in an automobile accident in 1989 and there is a small cross on the side off the road marking the site of her demise. If that pisses some people off they should join the Democrapic party and lobby Hillary so we can be spared the horror of these Christian non-secular roadside memorials
.
  In 1990 the starting defensive end on our college football team died in a motorcycle accident and his family erected a memorial that some may have considered a bit tacky. If that pisses people off they should call Martha Stewart for decorating tips to make the memorial sites more tasteful and less "offensive".

   I really cared about these people and it pains me to think that these memorials offend or irritate others. I don't want to tell any of you all how to think and I sure as hell don't expect to change minds here, but I personally don't see the big deal. Now, if I go out and get wasted in the Old Crown Vic today I sure as hell don't want a memorial, but my wife may feel differently. Besides, this whole memorial thing could be alot worse. In my wife's home country of Colombia they often put the steering wheel or mirrors of the death vehicle on the shrine..... and these shrines are grandiose and tacky to begin with!!! Just my thoughts on the matter.

Harp

They are an eyesore.  They should not be allowed at all.  

I pretty much believe what Garmentless said.
Those "shrines", crosses, ribbins, pictures, teddy bears, wooden cut outs, angles, candles, and other CRAP is for the $5000-10,000. shrine that they paid for at the cemetery.
I don't care WHERE people died because of their stupid driving habbits or drunkeness.


BISHOP

Bishop,
   Not everyone that dies in an automobile accident has bad driving habits or drives intoxicated. Usually it is some other ignorant and/or intoxicated F#*k that kils them!

Depending on the state, the private property owner could lose the land the stuff is on after 7-15 years because of adverse possession.
Even if the stuff is within a road easement it could still happen.
Best thing to do is check with a lawyer admitted in your state. If the law looks iffy, throw that stuff in the garbage.
Plus, if it looks like the property owner allowed the display, someone could sue if it was in the road easement and some kid drunk roller bladeing fell on it or something, or even if it wasn't and a kid came on your land to look at the attraction.

Memorialize your dead ones in your home or church. Sooner or later, they'll probably widen the street there and someone will sue for invasion of "privacy???".

I don't drive my truck in your cemetery so don't put your crosses in my roadway.

LOL!  You must be another fan of Chuck Shepard's http://[url]http://www.newsoftheweird.com/[/url]

Every few columns, he has a paragraph of all the "XXXXX Wayne XXXXXXXX's" who murdered someone or tried to.  He (seriously) claims that statistically, people with the middle name "Wayne" really ARE more likely to be criminals!

As far as these "memorials", they remind me of all the religious wackos (mostly Mexicans, from what the news stories show) who go around seeing the Image of the Virgin Mary in water stains, oil slicks, burned tortillas, and light patterns on garages at night.  People end up doing creative things to get rid of these pests, like putting up motion-sensor lights so that when they show up to stare at the garage at 2am, the light will come on and scare away the "image of the blessed virgin".  What a pain in the ass -- both the (long-term) memorials and the religious weirdos.  The short-term memorials, well, ok. . . .

They seem to be a import from south of the border that has taken off. . . I find the garish ones in poor taste and trashy.

You don't happen to live near HWY11 do you?

It's very sad when someone dies but, even most cemeteries will not allow memorials like people put up on the side of the road.