The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

You know the little crosses and flowers people put up in locations where people have died in a car crash?

Mods: Please make a poll:

1) They should not be put up in the first place.
2) Less than 1 month
3) 1-3 months
4) 4-6 months
5) 7-9 months
6) 1 year
7) As long as the people who put it up feel it's necessary.

I am of the belief that they should never be put up in the first place. A gravesite is a much better place for a memorial than a public roadway.

I would say as long as the people who put them up feel necessary...If it makes them feel just a little bit better about their loss then I don't see a problem with it...plus it makes people take note that someone died here, so don't drive like an idiot (not that the person driving was the idiot...maybe it was the other person).

There are some in my neighborhood that have been there 10+ years and I think its ridiculous.  I'm all for remembering the deceased but in private.

I don't think I'd put anything like that up if I lost someone in that manner, but I am not going to tell others how long their loved one's memorial should be in place...

'Fo Reelz.  That's beyond callous.  I haven't seen them here but in Miami they're the little white circles that say "please drive safely".

I think they're tacky and kind of trivializes the death. Those things need to be left private where the persons remains, etc are.

I would like have them stay up for ever. 

Not necessary just for the sake of the family but everyone else. When there are 6 of them next to each other on a sharp turn...maybe it will hit home to folks there is a reason the speed limit in that section is 35 MPH and not 70. 

Don't tell me you have never seen one and then started driving a bit more carefully. 

Never have.

Nothing better than driving on a back road with fog rolling in at dusk...as snow starts to fly, only to see a bunch of crosses set up on a corner that you're about to drive around.  Very uplifting.

This one is really great.  A white cat and the confederate flag all in one.  NICE!

(http://www.visualalex.com/uploaded_images/rich5-700575.jpg)

Word.

The side of the road is not a place for this kind of thing.  Roads are for driving, not a place to remember the dead.

Sorry if that's a dick thing to say.

Nope. I haven't. I gotta stick with "they're tacky".
Evidence:  See the photo Maine posted.

damn maine, thats FUGLY.  i guess he was the reason they installed that sweet guardrail...ß

It's glorified littering.

I thought I was in the minority in hating those.  :D  There is one near where I live, a telephone pole very near the road that has had plastic flowers on it which are changed out when they get old.  It has been there for at least 4 years.

I'm unsure of how I feel on this.  I think it's unnecessarily harsh to call a person's memorial to their loved one, wherever it may be placed, "glorified littering."  On the other hand, I can see how they'd be a bit of a visual nuisance.  They do, after all, take your eyes off the cars in front of you and onto the cross or wreath on the side of the road.  I think the closest you can come to laying down some sort of guiding principles in this area would be to say: "allow it, unless it becomes so excessive as to be hazardous to ongoing traffic."

Also, does anyone think that a cross placed on government property (a roadway) like this may violate the establishment clause?

^^

I don't.  As anti-religion as I am, the thing about this that concerns me isn't that it's a cross.  That doesn't bother me at all. 

I just think that putting crap on the side of the road of public property is against the law.  That goes for memorials, political signs, trash, etc.  I appreciate some people's motives more than others, but the result is the same....garbage next to the street.

I don't think I can go there with ya, Dave.  Calling a memorial "garbage" is pretty harsh.

Although it sounds harsh, I agree completely. Look at the picture that was posted. There is nothing attractive about that memorial. It is basically litter on the roadside.

Putting a temporary cross is one thing, but when you put up names and candles and turn the area into a little shrine, that is beyond creepy. Plus when you put up visual distractions on a bad stretch of road that people need to be paying attention too, you are contributing to the problem. How is endangering other drivers honoring your loved one?

It's only a distraction if your eating a cheeseburger and talking on your cell phone when you look over.

I see both sides to this issue. I would hate to be the one who lost someone I loved in a car crash, but I know I would never build any shrine where they died, talk about bad memories. I think theres better ways to honor those we love who passed, like talking about the great memories we have. The person who passed could care less about any shrine on a roadside. I find it odd to build shrines to the dead and its creepy too, but people grieve in different ways. When do roadside shrines become a nuisance and a safety hazard? I mean if it gets way out of control think of the shrines that will be in one spot because of it. A law should be passed every Jan 1st all shrines will be dismantled and destroyed, anyone being a repeat offender building shrines will be fined.

I agree with Hoodie.There was a horrible wreck near here about 9 years ago.This stupid 16 year old kid was driving like 100 mph on hwy 52 coming towards town when he passed a car on the shoulder,came back onto the road and couldn't stay in his lane and hit a couple with a kid in their vehicle head on........8 people died.The kid had 3 teens from the same family in his car(his girlfriend and her little brother and sister)all dead.I know their mother,she almost had to be institutionalized.She lost 3 kids all at once.They put up a roadside memorial that stayed pretty much intact for 5 or 6 years,and never did I not think of my own kids and slow down a little when I passed it.Sure,it was a nuisance sometimes,when I was trying to get someplace and traffic was slowed to a crawl because people were stopping or looking.But if one person slows down,just one thinks twice and doesn't get killed,it's worth it.Yes they sometimes look tacky,but that's not hurting me any.I say leave em up!