Roadside memorials.

aujopimur

I've just listened to a lady on Joe Duffy complaining about a plaque to her son being removed from a wall near the spot where her child was killed.
I think all these roadside plaques, shrines, headstones, flower beds, statues etc. should be removed and banned.

I am pie

Err....why?

My name is URL

I've just listened to a lady on Joe Duffy

Well there's your problem

CrabRevolution

There's probably a LOT of other circumstances for that other plaque being removed, were the owners of the wall not consulted? Was it poorly made and about to fall off?

Dont have much of an issue with these memorials once they are small and discrete. I remember reading about a mountain walking trail in Scotland where people were erecting benches and memorials and plaques all over it for people who had simply liked to walk there. It had totally spoiled the spot.

riffmongous

That's a pretty compelling argument you've put forward in support of your idea there OP, many well thought out and airtight points made

thesimpsons

whatever about them all being banned, certainly think they should have to apply for permission at location. some of them are very close to the road/hard shoulder. came across one over the holidays while out cycling. placed on the roadside where there was no hard shoulder, seemed to be a safety hazard to to us..

JuliusCaesar

Ugly, mostly.

Random memorials all over the place, no planning permission, plastic flowers getting faded etc. There's a horrible looking one in Phoenix Park I pass regularly. There was a temporary one at the spot someone collapsed during a marathon or some such, but that is gone now. Was just real flowers that degraded and faded away naturally. But these memorials with ribbons and teddy bears and plastic flowers - ugh.

They have the grave to memorialise the person.

Darkglasses

Ban flower beds?

Orlaw3136

Yeah. ****ing depressing. Reminding people that somebody died right where they are driving past. Puts me right off my speeding so it does.

Dravokivich

aujopimur wrote: »

I think all these roadside plaques, shrines, headstones, flower beds, statues etc. should be removed and banned.

They have been. New ones are not allowed to be erected and has been like this for some time. Never seen or heard of anything with regards to taking down any that were already up.

anncoates

Like most normal people with more pressing concerns to occupy me than mindless nimbyism, my thoughts on such memorials never go much past feeling sorry for whoever erected them.

elfy4eva

These memorials are tasteless, I don't get why a persons point of death warrants a shrine. Memorials in my mind should be an honor of their life.

Dravokivich

elfy4eva wrote: »

These memorials are tasteless, I don't get why a persons point of death warrants a shrine. Memorials in my mind should be an honor of their life.

It's more likely that they mark the spot of an accident and are intended to be a harsh reminder to be careful when making use of the roads, both for Drivers and Pedestrians.

darkpagandeath

Dravokivich wrote: »

It's more likely that they mark the spot of an accident and are intended to be a harsh reminder to be careful when making use of the roads, both for Drivers and Pedestrians.

Is that not why we have speeding fine generation vans ... Sorry I mean Safety vans only on black spots were people have died.

anncoates

elfy4eva wrote: »

These memorials are tasteless.

I doubt that tasteful design principles and congruence with the surrounding environment is at the forefront of the mind of whoever erects a monument for their child when they get run down by a car?

Dravokivich

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Is that not why we have speeding fine generation vans ... Sorry I mean Safety vans only on black spots were people have died.

Which are only a recent thing. I've mentioned earlier these things are not permitted any more and the primary reason why they were put up in the first place, was to make people acknowledge a death had occurred there.

Khannie

Honestly, when you've lost someone you love in a road accident, come back then and let us know how you feel.

"Removed and banned." Jesus wept. Like we don't have enough red tape in the country.

Frank Black

anncoates wrote: »

I doubt that tasteful design principles and congruence with the surrounding environment is at the forefront of the mind of whoever erects a monument for their child when they get run down by a car?

Undoubtedly -.
Which is why they shouldn't be allowed.

aujopimur

Khannie wrote: »

Honestly, when you've lost someone you love in a road accident, come back then and let us know how you feel.

"Removed and banned." Jesus wept. Like we don't have enough red tape in the country.

I did, never entered the minds of me or mine to engage in this type of pointless tastless tat.

Femme_Fatale

Frank Black wrote: »

Undoubtedly -.
Which is why they shouldn't be allowed.

Oh Frank, you're so no-nonsense and edgy.

/slides off chair

Khannie

aujopimur wrote: »

I did, never entered the minds of me or mine to engage in this type of pointless tastless tat.

We should definitely ban them then.

I couldn't give a fiddlers that you find it pointless or that it insults your finely tuned sense of what constitutes tat. What I care about is the people who have lost someone getting some small, small level of comfort from it.

MadsL

http://media.northjersey.com/images/300*199/AlpineMemorial_0813_su_tif_.jpg

These Ghost bikes are quite popular where I live. I think they get the point across without being overly distressing.

And here is my favourite memorial for a local teacher...

http://www.sfexaminer.com/binary/f47f/walter_white_grave.jpg

Jimoslimos

In Australia, in some states I think there are simple short red or black poles (indicating a serious injury or death) at crash scenes. I think the simplicity works better to highlight road safety awareness than a half-tended shrine.

http://taraustralis.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/img_6933.jpg

Probably more poignant when you see something like this
http://images.travelpod.com/tw_slides/ta00/c93/878/a-crash-marker-melbourne.jpg

Artful_Badger

Tbh if they are not currently permitted then people should try change that before erecting them. I have no issue with them being there at all and certainly dont see them as tasteless but neither do I have an issue with them being removed if the local laws and regulations dont permit them.

Guy:Incognito

Dravokivich wrote: »

It's more likely that they mark the spot of an accident and are intended to be a harsh reminder to be careful when making use of the roads, both for Drivers and Pedestrians.

I doubt the families put them there as a reminder to others.

I don't agree with them either. How many people should be allowed put up memorials? Is it first come first served on death spots? What if 50 people get killed over the course of a few years, the place would be like a graveyard.

There's a ridiculous one at the roundabout outside bawnogue in clondalkin where a member of the travelling community died that's bigger than most gravestones.

wazky

A friend of mine collapsed and died in a supermarket before, we didn't stick a memorial up on aisle four though.

Guy:Incognito

Khannie wrote: »

Honestly, when you've lost someone you love in a road accident, come back then and let us know how you feel.

"Removed and banned." Jesus wept. Like we don't have enough red tape in the country.

What about everyone else that loses someone? Is their grief not valid? Should every house have a line of memorials on it to denote everyone that died in it? Should every hospital not have to erect a sign to everyone that dies? Or is it just in circumstances you deem worthy enough of sufficient grief?

Frank Black

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

Oh Frank, you're so no-nonsense and edgy.

/slides off chair

Put the sherry away Dear, it seems you've had quite enough.

Gone Drinking

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

What about everyone else that loses someone? Is their grief not valid? Should every house have a line of memorials on it to denotes everyone that died in it? Should every hospital not have toerect a sign to eeveryone that's dies? Or is it just in circumstances you deem worthy enough of sufficient grief?

Yeah.. if they want to, why not? if its not in peoples way or breaking local laws, whats the problem?

My brother was killed in a traffic accident a few months ago, he took his last breath on a footpath surrounded by strangers. There's a cross (not on the footpath) but on the grass right beside it. Its doesn't hurt anyone, but its something that made my Mother and Father, his wife and his kids feel a bit better.. My dad has to drive that road to work everyday.

riffmongous

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

I doubt the families put them there as a reminder to others.

I don't agree with them either. How many people should be allowed put up memorials? Is it first come first served on death spots? What if 50 people get killed over the course of a few years, the place would be like a graveyard.

There's a ridiculous one at the roundabout outside bawnogue in clondalkin where a member of the travelling community died that's bigger than most gravestones.

I think if you've got 50 people being killed at one spot over the course of a few years you've got a more serious problem than having too many shrines cluttering up the place

Pumpkinseeds

I think they should be banned. Some of them are so big they resemble graves. People have a grave to mourn at, there's no excuse for these roadside memorials. The relatives aren't going to forget the tragedy so frankly setting these things up on the road is ridiculous and a bit tacky.

Plazaman

Never really got whole roadside memorial thing (although in my younger days genuinely thought people were buried there). Do people go pray at these memorials as well as at the persons grave? Do people regularly visit the memorials or is it just the placing of flowers on the anniversary of an accident?

Having said that they don't bother me much and if they are of some comfort to the family who lost a loved one and as long as they're not a genuine road obstruction or distraction, leave them be. I think the fact that the memorial the OP is on about was placed on a wall, the number one thing that springs to mind is the owner of wall may not have been consulted.

Well I have a roadside memorial for my two children who were killed in a car accident. The junction were it happened was known as a danger spot and they were not the first to die there - thankfully however, they were the last due to the fantastic efforts of locals to change the road entirely.

The simple wooden cross that I erected at the time was moved by the council themselves when a roundabout was put in place but it is still present on the road where they died (it's not the only one there unfortunately).

The way I see it, their deaths have saved lives by finally getting the road changed so I'll leave in their forever in their memory. I leave flowers there regularly and I visit it more than I visit their grave. I'm not going to get into a debate about it, and I'm not a bit sorry for it

MonstaMash

^ Sorry for your loss

Mountainsandh

I don't mind the memorials, if they're a comfort to the family, and the reminder for other road users to be careful, then the minimal intrusiveness of some is well made up for.

In France, there are no such memorials, so local authorities have started erecting silhouettes of people who died on the road, and their age, to urge caution for other motorists. That's how effective these memorials are (I think they are).
http://franche-comte.france3.fr/sites/regions_france3/files/styles/top_big/public/assets/images/image_74268499.jpg?itok=Qr8RpNQU

IvyTheTerrible

Mountainsandh wrote: »

I don't mind the memorials, if they're a comfort to the family, and the reminder for other road users to be careful, then the minimal intrusiveness of some is well made up for.

In France, there are no such memorials, so local authorities have started erecting silhouettes of people who died on the road, and their age, to urge caution for other motorists. That's how effective these memorials are (I think they are).
http://franche-comte.france3.fr/sites/regions_france3/files/styles/top_big/public/assets/images/image_74268499.jpg?itok=Qr8RpNQU

There are some small roadside memorials in this part of France (around Montpellier), usually with plastic flowers.

Mountainsandh

Interesting, I'm from Lyon, family mostly between Lyon and Montelimar, never seen anything around those areas anyway. Maybe I don't really pay attention to them. Good few silhouettes now around the area though.

Miss Lockhart

I can't say I've ever seen any tacky ones - they've all been simple wooden crosses or brass plaques,occasionally with flowers. They don't bother me in the slightest.

IvyTheTerrible

Mountainsandh wrote: »

Interesting, I'm from Lyon, family mostly between Lyon and Montelimar, never seen anything around those areas anyway. Maybe I don't really pay attention to them. Good few silhouettes now around the area though.

Well i've seen a few in country roads in the Gard, and the Gard is notorious for bad/dangerous driving.

The white crosses on the stretch of N4 into sligo really are a stark reminder of the dangers on our roads. It's quite a humbling spectacle.

IvyTheTerrible

Deleted User wrote: »

The white crosses on the stretch of N4 into sligo really are a stark reminder of the dangers on our roads. It's quite a humbling spectacle.

It's a disgrace that that stretch of road hasn't been upgraded considering how good the rest of the road to Dublin is. The white crosses are frightening.

IvyTheTerrible

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

It's a disgrace that that stretch of road hasn't been upgraded considering how good the rest of the road to Dublin is. The white crosses are frightening.

And they've just announced they don't intent doing it any time soon!

oppenheimer1

Its hard to know where to stand on this issue. Some roadside memorials are highly ornate monuments, like gravestones and I don't think these should be permitted because if anyone were to hit them then they would cause major damage. Another potential problem is people visiting them. As they tend to be located in accident blackspots and other dangerous places, simply pulling up to lay flowers could cause an accident - though I've never heard of it happening.


On the other hand, simple roadside crosses can give solace to grieving families and preventing them from going up, or taking them down just causes unnecessary hurt and grief when they are harmless. Roadside crosses can also send a powerful safety message too. I remember a stretch of road and I think it had twenty odd crosses on it. They always reminded me to be careful on it.

Ipro

Almost ran someone over New Year's Day on the N7 ,

Guy parked in hard shoulder to put flowers or something like that at one. Guy had to walk back into slow/1st lane to get back into his car with on comming traffic. Pretty risky dangerous in my opinion.

A lot of these things are in accident black spots which is obviously a very dangerous place to erect one / put flowers/visit one.

I think their a nice idea but that their not really thought out properly.

On the positive side though any time I come across one it reminds me to take extra caution and pay more attention to the road (more effective than ' slow down' road signs)

I guess they have their pros and cons.

I think they should be erected with permission but that if their in a dangerous spot that people should be banned from visiting / putting flowers there as it's often a hazard but that's opening a new tin of worms on joe Duffey

Bogger77

Ipro wrote: »

Almost ran someone over New Year's Day on the N7 ,

Guy parked in hard shoulder to put flowers or something like that at one. Guy had to walk back into slow/1st lane to get back into his car with on comming traffic. Pretty risky dangerous in my opinion.

Sounds like you were not paying enough attention when driving, if you almost ran them over, when driving always expect to find broken down cars, animals etc on the road

Duck's hoop

How anybody can find anything 'offensive' or 'distasteful' or 'tacky' about a memorial is beyond me.

If and when I notice them I almost always get a 'there but for the grace of God' moment.

It's a bit pitiful if you're actually annoyed by another human's effort to assuage, in some tiny way, a huge sense of loss.

Pumpkinseeds

Duck's hoop wrote: »

How anybody can find anything 'offensive' or 'distasteful' or 'tacky' about a memorial is beyond me.

If and when I notice them I almost always get a 'there but for the grace of God' moment.

It's a bit pitiful if you're actually annoyed by another human's effort to assuage, in some tiny way, a huge sense of loss.

You're entitled to your opininion but there is a massive difference between a small and discreet cross and a hulking great slab of concrete with or without headstone/cross. I regularly travel by bus to Galway and some of the roadside memorials are ridiculously big and unnecessary. I understand that some people want some sort of memorial to mark the spot where there loved ones lost their lives. I just don't think very large memorials are the way to do that. I've seen a couple that have such large concrete slabs, they could actually be mistaken for graves.

amorphous

How come you never see any in hospitals?

Galwayguy35

There are maybe 3 headstones on the old Galway/Dublin road between Oranmore and Loughrea, they are up against the stone wall and in nobodys way.

I'm genuinely amazed people seem to have an issue with this.

Sleepy

If they give the bereaved some measure of comfort and aren't posing a hazard to other's safety what harm tbh...

Days 298

People have little to get annoyed with nowadays.

Imagine........

Dear parents of deceased child.
Please remove the tasteless eyesore to your lost love done from the roadside. Those with little to do are up in arms that you have defied planning regulations and is causing visual displeasure to a few.

City Council.

All well and good giving out about them on the internet but Id imagine few would say it to the person face who erected its.