Roadside shrines

crazygeryy · 19-12-2014 9:39am #1

I'm seeing more and more of these pop up on roads everywhere these days. Fair enough if its a little flower pot or bouquet ,but these have headstones candles obituaries the whole lot.
Some of them on very busy main roads,how do they visit these ones?isn't it dangerous?
What is the law on those?
I have every sympathy if someone died there but i think they are bloody dangerous.

ironclaw · 19-12-2014 9:48am

I think it would be a sad day if a family couldn't honor where a loved one past away. Don't see any issue at all myself. I doubt many families would tend to them in rush hour, and even then, I've never seen one that would exactly be dangerous to tend to.

Comhrá · 19-12-2014 10:27am

ironclaw wrote: »

I think it would be a sad day if a family couldn't honor where a loved one past away. Don't see any issue at all myself. I doubt many families would tend to them in rush hour, and even then, I've never seen one that would exactly be dangerous to tend to.

I agree. Apart form giving some little comfort to the family & friends of the deceased, these roadside shrines just might give some drivers a bit of pause and encourage them to be less complacent.

DoomZ · 19-12-2014 10:30am

Every time I see one..it makes me think. No problems with them so long as there senseable about size, location etc.

gozunda · 19-12-2014 10:38am

There used to be a website devoted to recording theses memorials all over the country - some fairly ott ones as far as I can remember ...

corktina · 19-12-2014 11:10am

I'm not a huge fan, I wouldn't erect one myself if a loved one was killed.

They are an odd phenomenon, you wouldn't mark the spot where someone drowned , got hit by a train or fell off a building.

But they do make you think and maybe rein in your behavior a bit. I can't see that they are dangerous, some of them are OTT though

kerry4sam · 19-12-2014 11:56am

crazygeryy wrote: »

I'm seeing more and more of these pop up on roads everywhere these days. Fair enough if its a little flower pot or bouquet ,but these have headstones candles obituaries the whole lot.
Some of them on very busy main roads,how do they visit these ones?isn't it dangerous?
What is the law on those?
I have every sympathy if someone died there but i think they are bloody dangerous.

They can be domineering to look at, but, at the road-sides people are driving by and then moments later you're not looking at it anymore.

The loved ones who erected this roadside shrine would take comfort. I can understand the reasoning behind them & never thankfully been in a situation where it's been a question though.

How they visit them: They may drive past and just bless themselves; they may pull in somewhere safe nearby and say a few prayers; they would know only too well not to put themselves in harms way while visiting.

They do re-focus the mind though, as a motorist. Even seeing them whilst out walking and they'd make you pause for thought, some reflection.

Hope that makes sense and I'm not waffling here?!
kerry4sam

Mc Love · 19-12-2014 12:07pm

Same I wouldnt do it. DOnt they need to get planning permission for them though??

keithclancy · 19-12-2014 12:20pm

Here in Eindhoven there's one near my house next to a tree, some flowers, a prayer and a picture, thats fine i think.

Legally I believe its littering, but they are tolerated as long as they do no harm. (in Holland anyway)

Seen similar in Ireland, but some are a bit much.

Driving into Sligo on a really bad road there are luminous crucifixes all over the sides, very distracting and are a hazard to be honest.

theoneeyedman · 19-12-2014 12:25pm

keithclancy wrote: »

.

Driving into Sligo on a really bad road there are luminous crucifixes all over the sides, very distracting and are a hazard to be honest.

Kinda disagree here. These crosses mark a life lost on this bit of road, and certainly make me aware of the dangers there. The crosses are reflective now too, so it's quite eerie passing through there

19-12-2014 12:27pm

I drive that Sligo road often. It's a dangerous stretch of road. It's the kind of road that a split second lack of judgement can cause tragedy. Each one of those crosses is a life lost there, on that one single stretch of road. Way too many. Those crosses are a reminded to slow down, and they work.

creedp · 19-12-2014 12:45pm

keithclancy wrote: »

Here in Eindhoven there's one near my house next to a tree, some flowers, a prayer and a picture, thats fine i think.

Legally I believe its littering, but they are tolerated as long as they do no harm. (in Holland anyway)

Seen similar in Ireland, but some are a bit much.

Driving into Sligo on a really bad road there are luminous crucifixes all over the sides, very distracting and are a hazard to be honest.

Don't have much problem with the shrine to be honest. Most are well off the road and so pose no problems. However, I have a problem with people who want to have lovely manicured lawn on the road verge along their properties and line the roadway with big rocks to stop people damaging their pride and joy. These obstacles are dangerous and could cause an accident particularly if you have to pull in tight to pass by a truck on a narrow country road.

Popoutman · 19-12-2014 7:32pm

I generally don't have a problem with the marking of a place of death. It's a good reminder to the rest of us that road travel is not as safe as we think it is in our nice insulated little metal bubbles. It's also nice for the families of the bereaved to mark where their loved ones died.

I do however have a problem with the erection of a large gravestone with associated shrinework at the side of the road that could very easily cause someone that had gone off the road to have a much worse day than otherwise. There's no point to putting what is effectively a large rock in a place where someone can collide with it in a car. I feel that all poles, trees, signposts and the like should also be removed or protected if they pose a danger to someone colliding with them. It'll genuinely make the roads safer if/when an accident does happen.

Also, I feel quite strongly that they should *not* be lit at night, as it's a distraction from things that really need to be seen.

galah · 19-12-2014 7:37pm

Does anyone here remember the old N6, there used to be a stretch of road with a lot of crosses on the side. I'd never seen anything like it before and that image is still with me - this must have been around 95 or96, probably near Aughrim?

Why anyone let so many road deaths build up before doing something about the road is beyond me....

christy c · 19-12-2014 8:15pm

galah wrote: »

Does anyone here remember the old N6, there used to be a stretch of road with a lot of crosses on the side. I'd never seen anything like it before and that image is still with me - this must have been around 95 or96, probably near Aughrim?

Why anyone let so many road deaths build up before doing something about the road is beyond me....

Yes between Aughrim and Cappataggle. A local was killed on that stretch and it brought the community out in force. The road is still crap though, they did about a mile and left two undone

Supergurrier · 19-12-2014 8:16pm

A distraction on what is an already dangerous spot is never a good idea.

Whats worse is people driving up in the middle of the night at times to maintain it on said dangerous stretch of road.

Madness.

major deegan · 19-12-2014 8:29pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I drive that Sligo road often. It's a dangerous stretch of road. It's the kind of road that a split second lack of judgement can cause tragedy. Each one of those crosses is a life lost there, on that one single stretch of road. Way too many. Those crosses are a reminded to slow down, and they work.

Was that stretch of road supposed to be upgraded ? Thought they were going to extend from castlebaldwin to meet carraigeway at Collooney. The crosses are an eye opener alright!

Ken. · 19-12-2014 8:33pm

Personally I think that the road side crosses are better than accident black spot signs. I know of 3 accident black spot signs where no one has died in the last 30 years but a cross really leaves you in no doubt.

dr.fuzzenstein · 19-12-2014 9:29pm

Mc Love wrote: »

Same I wouldnt do it. DOnt they need to get planning permission for them though??

Also wouldn't do it, not my thing. But if they need permission, would you fancy being the planning officer who refused such?

ofcork · 19-12-2014 9:53pm

A friend of my father a priest used to maintain a website of roadside memorials.

alias no.9 · 19-12-2014 10:06pm

Mc Love wrote: »

Same I wouldnt do it. DOnt they need to get planning permission for them though??

Exempt within certain restrictions

Can I erect a roadside shrine without permission?
Yes, subject to maximum area of 2sqm, max height is 2m above the centre of the road opposite, and it is not lit.

Source

Melodeon · 19-12-2014 11:31pm

There's this one beside the northbound carriageway of the M7 just before the M9 merge (J11), immediately before the bridge carrying a local road over the motorway:

There used to be a very elaborate one (headstone, kerb stones, etc) beside the southbound carriageway immediately after one of the later junctions (J12, J13, J14, etc), but I can't seem to find it on Google maps now.

Both of these memorials were well tended and the flowers frequently changed, which would seem to indicate that someone was regularly parking up beside a very busy motorway to pay their respects to the deceased.

I haven't been up that way much for the last year or two, so I don't know if either of these still exist.

keithclancy · 20-12-2014 2:11am

theoneeyedman wrote: »

Kinda disagree here. These crosses mark a life lost on this bit of road, and certainly make me aware of the dangers there. The crosses are reflective now too, so it's quite eerie passing through there

I'm already aware the road is terrible. The crucifixes are not necessary

Crumbs868 · 20-12-2014 5:58am

keithclancy wrote: »

I'm already aware the road is terrible. The crucifixes are not necessary

You are aware but are others?

debabyjesus · 20-12-2014 6:41am

In France the department of transport put up these black human shaped cut outs at road death sites. Adult and kid sized ones, complete with bloody heads.

Strange looking but effective.

iano.p · 20-12-2014 8:47am

I think the crosses are a good way of showing respect. But headstones are abit much I pass one on a bad bend every week and the family park there car right on the bend sit in the car while every car behind had to stop because there isn't room to pass if there is a car coming the other way. I have reported it and i was told sure they will be gone in ten minutes

shanec1928 · 20-12-2014 8:50am

major deegan wrote: »

Was that stretch of road supposed to be upgraded ? Thought they were going to extend from castlebaldwin to meet carraigeway at Collooney. The crosses are an eye opener alright!

That's the one. Think they are talking about it again. They took the worst of the corners out a year or two ago but it's still a bad stretch.

bladespin · 20-12-2014 9:32am

Ever wonder what would happen if you 'hit' some of the roadside furniture? Would be pretty bad news clouting a headstone sized lump of granite I'd imagine.

dr.fuzzenstein · 20-12-2014 5:05pm

debabyjesus wrote: »

In France the department of transport put up these black human shaped cut outs at road death sites. Adult and kid sized ones, complete with bloody heads.

Strange looking but effective.

I've seen those, very disconcerting at night to see these ghostly black shapes looming at the side of the road. You'll never complain about a shrine again.

Big Nasty · 20-12-2014 5:15pm

There must be 30 or more crosses on that stretch between Colooney and Castlebaldwin. I always thought they were just a deterrent. If someone died for everyone of those crosses it must be the most dangerous road in the country.

I quite like driving it myself.

braddun · 20-12-2014 5:24pm

there is not more,you just noticed them,

its fine if they put a little plaque or what ever

why not worry about all the litter in the road than some shrine

Roadside shrines

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