Roadside memorials.

aujopimur · 02-01-2014 03:05PM #1

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 · 02-01-2014 03:07PM

Err....why?

My name is URL · 02-01-2014 03:09PM

I've just listened to a lady on Joe Duffy

Well there's your problem

CrabRevolution · 02-01-2014 03:12PM

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.

02-01-2014 03:12PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:12PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:12PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:15PM

Ban flower beds?

Orlaw3136 · 02-01-2014 03:15PM

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

Dravokivich · 02-01-2014 03:17PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:17PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:18PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:20PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:23PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:27PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:29PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:33PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:33PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:38PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:38PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:43PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:45PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:52PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:53PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:59PM

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 · 02-01-2014 03:59PM

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

Guy:Incognito · 02-01-2014 04:02PM

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 · 02-01-2014 04:03PM

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 · 02-01-2014 04:06PM

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.

02-01-2014 04:09PM

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 · 02-01-2014 04:22PM

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.

Roadside memorials.

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