Little Crosses Along the Highway

qayak

Penultimate Amazing
qayak
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Springing up more and more along the highways in British Columbia are memorials to people who have died in collisions. It used to be just an annoyance to me but now they are so common that they have become a blight on the scenery. Is there anything more pathetic than a little Teddy Bear zap strapped to a fence and surrounded by dead flowers in cheap plastic vases?

How is it that the death rate through vehicle collisions is at an all time low but these memorials are at an all time high? Do people really think that memorials stop people from crashing their cars?

Why are my tax dollars going to clean up the garbage put on the side of the highway by someone that is readily identifiable? All the signs say that there is a minimum penalty of $500.00 for littering on a highway, why isn't it being enforced?

I passed one memorial when it was just being erected by a large group of people. This was on a 4 lane freeway where the speed limit is 110 but the vehicles generally travel at 130 - 140 km/h. The vehicles of the mourners were parked haphazardly on both shoulders of the freeway with people, including children, walking back and forth across the road! It crossed my mind that the person who the memorial was for probably caused their own death, if they had as little regard for their own safety, and that of others, as their friends and relatives seemed to have. Darwinism at its finest.

Anyone else find this strange or am I strange for noticing it? :D
 
They are here too in the states. If I'm not mistaken it's primarily a cultural phenominon if the hispanic cuture in the Southwest. But thinking on it now, I don't know that I have enough reason to believe that. My belief stems from other iconography on the memorials.

In any event, I don't really think they're a great idea either. But this is one area where I've decided cultural and moral sensitivies should demand tolerance from me. It's not that big of a deal for me. And I'm sure it is a big deal to those involved. That's probably not a good enough standard to make decisions in general. But fining the mourners seems to be in particularly bad taste to me.

Aaron
 
The only roadside memorial I support is the one on Deerfoot by Southland.

The rest just remind me that there's more air for me today.
 
Here, (Georgia USA) crosses on the roadside are (or were) very common. While illegal they were tolerated. I think this was out of a sensitivity to the families involved. These were removed the next time the chain gang crew came through picking up trash.

On a related note on the interstate highways going down to Florida I remember seeing stenceled graffiti saying "Trust Jesus". These things endured for years. I have to admit I was tempted to add underneath in blood red runny spray paint "OR ELSE". But I'm a good citzen who does not deface public property.
 
I'm a bit confused by these also. Would these same people put stuff in the floors of the hospital rooms where their loved ones died?

Our state's Dept. of Transportation spokesperson made a comment about them not long ago. While I forget the exact words, the gist was that they do not support the act, but they will not remove any that are not causing a problem, or are not in the way of required roadway/roadside work that needs to be done. I believe he sited the potential for danger to those involved in setting up these little memorials, and suggested caution in that regard.

I guess my thoughts are that if it eases someones emotions after loosing a loved one, I don't see a major problem. But overall, I'm against the idea, primarily because of the distraction to drivers, and the potential for another accident being caused by those stopping on the side of the road to set them up, or add to them (though I have never witnessed this being done, and assume it's done at non-peek driving hours).
 
I'm all for them. Yes, I think they remind other drivers that danger lurks a few seconds ahead. I see no harm in them.
 
Fidelio said:
Here, (Georgia USA) crosses on the roadside are (or were) very common. While illegal they were tolerated. I think this was out of a sensitivity to the families involved. These were removed the next time the chain gang crew came through picking up trash.
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An excellent argument for returning to the days of chain gangs.

And what can be learned form these memorials besides maybe:
LEARN HOW TO DRIVE YOU IDIOT!!

But, I get that enough, I don't need the cross to remind me! :D
 
Fidelio said:
On a related note on the interstate highways going down to Florida I remember seeing stenceled graffiti saying "Trust Jesus".
Click to expand...

I saw a few of those on underpasses while driving from the east coast to the midwest. Very strange.
 
Rob Lister said:
I'm all for them. Yes, I think they remind other drivers that danger lurks a few seconds ahead. I see no harm in them.
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Really? Do you know how any of those people died? What lessons could you learn:

- Don't fall asleep at the wheel.

- The road turns right here.

- It's snowing.

- Don't give your boyfriend head while he is driving.

- Crashing your car into a concrete abuttment, after you have been drinking and pass out at the wheel, may kill you.

- Physics works.

Besides, aren't they a distraction? Don't distractions lead to collisions? Don't collisions lead to injuries and death?
 
qayak said:
Really? Do you know how any of those people died? What lessons could you learn:

- Don't fall asleep at the wheel.

- The road turns right here.

- It's snowing.

- Don't give your boyfriend head while he is driving.

- Crashing your car into a concrete abuttment, after you have been drinking and pass out at the wheel, may kill you.

- Physics works.

Besides, aren't they a distraction? Don't distractions lead to collisions? Don't collisions lead to injuries and death?
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Wake up and pay attention is the message I generally get. Surprises abound.
 
But you never see any Stars of David memorials --- is that because jews are inherently better drivers?

(obviously not -- see: Israel)
 
webfusion said:
But you never see any Stars of David memorials --- is that because jews are inherently better drivers?

(obviously not -- see: Israel)
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Perhaps it is that Jewish people tend to understand that mourning is a private matter, for friends and family. Public mourning belittles the life of the deceased.
 
HeavyAaron said:
They are here too in the states. If I'm not mistaken it's primarily a cultural phenominon if the hispanic cuture in the Southwest.
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I think we can agree on that, HA - these "monuments" have most of the dangerous highways in the SW U.S. looking like friggin graveyards. I can understand that the spot where a relative died is significant to some people, but what they don't realize is that it's NOT significant to everyone who has to see these pathetic little reminders.

And why is it only on the highways or freeways that these monuments are so prevalent? If a person dies on a pedestrian walkway you don't see people setting up a monument. If someone dies in a store or at work, you don't see the family setting up crucifixes there (not that a store-owner would let them).

It's my understanding that these monuments are a plea to God to protect the departed spirit. Maybe they should erect these monuments BEFORE someone dies instead. ;)
 
Ziggurat said:
I saw a few of those on underpasses while driving from the east coast to the midwest. Very strange.
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It seemed to me that they were on thier way to some thumper's convention and decided to graffitti along the way, I didn't know they went to Florida!

I can't imagine having to tell someone to trust jesus.
 
Mephisto said:
And why is it only on the highways or freeways that these monuments are so prevalent? If a person dies on a pedestrian walkway you don't see people setting up a monument. If someone dies in a store or at work, you don't see the family setting up crucifixes there (not that a store-owner would let them).
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I've seen them turn up when people have been killed on pavements. The likely reason for the memorials turning up on roads rather than elsewhere is the suddeness of the death and the demographics of those killed.
 
I've seen these little monuments all over the US, hwoever, they do seem a little more common, and sometimes much more ornate, in the Southwest. Perhaps that suggests a connection to Hispanic culture, though it's difficult to tell where/how it's crossed over to the non-hispanic population.

ISTR there was a heated thread a few years back about these improvised roadside memorials.

And why is it only on the highways or freeways that these monuments are so prevalent? If a person dies on a pedestrian walkway you don't see people setting up a monument.
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On the contrary, I've seen them on sidewalks in urban areas. A couple years back, there was memorial monument a couple blocks from my home where a woman and her grandchild were rundown in a crosswalk. It lasted about a week before it was removed, presumably by the city.

The "Trust Jesus" graffitti seems much rarer than it was 15 or 20 years ago. Seems you used to be able to see these things on signs and overpasses about every half hour when driving throught the country. I hardly ever see them these days. I always wanted to add a "for Chrissakes" underneath the "Trust Jesus", myself.

I personally like to see these displays along the roads. I'm a big fan of roadside ephemera and view roadside memorials a subset of such things. They're a staple alongside the muffler men, shoe trees, and long gone Burma Shave and Stuckey's signs.
 
shecky said:
On the contrary, I've seen them on sidewalks in urban areas. A couple years back, there was memorial monument a couple blocks from my home where a woman and her grandchild were rundown in a crosswalk. It lasted about a week before it was removed, presumably by the city.
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There was one about ten blocks from me where a young woman, one of a set of twins, was killed by a drunk driver. Her friends would light candles every night. This went on for years. A friend of mine said she thought it showed loyalty. I said I thought it showed a mental illness.

After about 4 years the girls twin sister asked that the people keeping the candles lit, stop doing it and get on with their lives. They didn't.

I haven't driven past there in years, but I will tonight, now that my curiousity has been peaked.
 
We have one of these little "shrines" around a tree about 200 yards down the road. It's been there for about 4 years now. Every few weeks more flowers seem to be added.

There are a couple of letters about this in this week's Private Eye (a UK satirical magazine), replying to a letter about a cartoon a couple of issues ago. they point out that the people who add flowers to this sort of thing often have little or no connection to the deceased. One was about the "Anfield Chicken Foetus". The other was from someone who found a misdelivered bunch of flowers outside his door one Valentine's Day, and left them against a lamp post nearby. When he got back from work he found that another four bunches of flowers had been added.
 
There are also some on the highways here that have sculptures sunk into the ground or fastened to rock faces. They are more like headstones which they don't even allow in cemetaries anymore.

We passed one on a local bridge and my 15 year old daughter (at the time) said, "I'm glad he is dead."

It shocked the hell out of me until she explained the abuse she suffered at his hands, and mouth, while at school. Have to admit, I don't care if his family misses him, I'm glad too.
 
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