Roadside Accident Memorials

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2008-02-01 02:16am

I think these are fairly common in the US, so do any of you in other countries ever see these? If you don't know what I'm talking about, around these parts, when a young person (usually it seems to be a young person) is killed in a car crash, sometimes family or friends set up a small (or not so small) shrine or memorial of the person's name, usually with a display of flowers or toys, stuff like that.

Some of them can be quite elaborate. Along a roughly 3- or 4-mile stretch of a nearby freeway, there's at least a half-dozen of these memorials set up and they are obviously maintained. Most are fairly small, but some are a bit larger. One that I recall features a wooden cross about 4 or 5 feet high, stained a dark color and has the names of one person on each horizontal arm of the cross, along with trinkets and such draped over it. Another one has a fairly large heart-shaped design on the side of a hill made from stones. Yet another has some steel signs (similar in construction to road signs, complete with the reflective face) set up on posts with the individual's birth and death date, easily viewable from both the west- and eastbound lanes of travel. Another usually has a small decorated Christmas tree set in place around that time of year. And on and on.

So, is this purely an American thing, or do you see it in your own country too?

(Edited for clarity)

thejester · Post by **thejester** » 2008-02-01 02:18am

Yeah, they happen in Australia. Usually a cross and flowers strapped to a power pole.

Netko · Post by **Netko** » 2008-02-01 03:37am

Haven't seen anything so elaborate around here, but you do often find a cluster of candles on a corner being maintained, with flowers and maybe a picture. It got a little creepy at the intersection where my neighbourhood/quarter joins up with the main avenue - the family of one of those young idiots that got himself wrapped around one of the poles maintained half-a-dozen of the damned candles (the ones with the plastic holder and top covering so they don't go out do to wind or rain) and a floral arrangement for years. I guess they were locals or really dedicated. I always had this feeling of driving over someone's grave when using that intersection do to them. I was personally relieved when they scaled back their candle maintenance about two years ago and now days the candles only seem to come out during the month when the guy died.

I feel pity for those poor people - somehow, jackass or not, I doubt their son would have wanted for them to dedicate so much of their energy on the trivial creepy hobby of maintaining a candle vigil at the location of his death.

Lusankya · Post by **Lusankya** » 2008-02-01 03:43am

In South Australia, the government, I think, actually puts up permanent markers to show where a serious accident has taken place on a country. There are black sticks with a cross on them for each fatalaty, and red sticks with a line on them for each serious injury.

You also get the elaborate shrines because some dumb-ass teenager has wrapped himself around a stobie pole as well.

Siege · Post by **Siege** » 2008-02-01 04:04am

They are typically fairly small affarirs around these parts (The Netherlands), maintained by friends and relatives of the deceased. Rarely more than a little cross, a bunch of flowers, that sort of thing. I've never seen anything bigger than that.

In France however, I've seen many B-roads where the government sets up black human-shaped signs for every person killed on that road. It can be quite eerie sometimes -- there are long straight tree-lined roads literally lined with signs, solitary or in pairs, where cars have zoomed off the road and into the trees. They really do tend to keep ones attention on the road and ones foot off the pedal.

atg · Post by **atg** » 2008-02-01 04:29am

Lusankya wrote:In South Australia, the government, I think, actually puts up permanent markers to show where a serious accident has taken place on a country. There are black sticks with a cross on them for each fatalaty, and red sticks with a line on them for each serious injury.

You also get the elaborate shrines because some dumb-ass teenager has wrapped himself around a stobie pole as well.

Some roads, notably the Adelaide to Victor Harbour road also have billboards saying "X days since the last fatal accident". The highest I've seen on that sign is 45 days.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2008-02-01 05:00am

They're illegal in many places because they can be distracting to drivers.

KlavoHunter · Post by **KlavoHunter** » 2008-02-01 05:45am

The only example I've seen is a bunch of flowers woven into a chain-link fence in the median of a road in front of a concentrated block of low-income housing.

The thing that leaves an impression on me is that, because of that, at the major intersection there that I often have to use to get to my bank, there's no right turns on red anymore. And it's all because someone couldn't keep control of their child from running out into the road, and the locals threw enough of a fit about it to get the 'no turn on red' there. It's a major irritant.

Falkenhorst · Post by **Falkenhorst** » 2008-02-01 05:57am

Up the road from here 3 stoners were late to school and rolled a yellow light... and got obliterated by a gravel truck, very harsh accident. Anyway the school metal shop built these 3 5 foot crosses with their names engraved on em with a CNC cutter and now they stand where the car came to rest. I think it looks like the hill of calvary.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2008-02-01 06:48am

We get them in the UK.

Usually just flowers.

If some chav has run himself off the road you could get a candle light vigil of teenagers making a nuisance of themselves until the early hours.

Darth Tanner · Post by **Darth Tanner** » 2008-02-01 07:17am

I've only seen flowers tied to railings, their usually quite rotten before the council or someone else removes them. Never seen anything more permanent.

Some roads, notably the Adelaide to Victor Harbour road also have billboards saying "X days since the last fatal accident".

There are a few roads near me that have totals for the number of motorcyclists killed in the last 15 months.

7 is the highest that I’ve seen it get.

eyl · Post by **eyl** » 2008-02-01 07:32am

You seem them in Israel as well (usually just a marker, and occasionally a small tree or flowerbed)

Dargos · Post by **Dargos** » 2008-02-01 07:47am

It is very popular in Germany, ranging from a simple wooden cross with flowers to full fledged stone memorials with pictures and candles.

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2008-02-01 10:35am

SiegeTank wrote:In France however, I've seen many B-roads where the government sets up black human-shaped signs for every person killed on that road. It can be quite eerie sometimes -- there are long straight tree-lined roads literally lined with signs, solitary or in pairs, where cars have zoomed off the road and into the trees. They really do tend to keep ones attention on the road and ones foot off the pedal.

Sorry, what is a "B-road"? Like a secondary road?

Those black silhouettes seem like a very stark reminder.

I've always wondered why someone would want to remember the exact spot where a loved one has died, splattered all over the highway.

If it were me, I probably wouldn't drive that stretch of road again, unless I had to.

Phantasee · Post by **Phantasee** » 2008-02-01 10:39am

When the accident recently happened and the deceased were young (sometimes children), there will be a small shrine thing with candles and flowers and a photo on the nearest vertical object (usually a streetlight). Otherwise, nothing as far as I know.

Oh, and the city will put up a small coffin shaped sign that is white with a black cross, with the words FATALITY written across it. Kind of reminds people it could happen to you too, so slow the fuck down.

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2008-02-01 02:15pm

There are a few around here. More common in rural areas, obviously.

Qwerty 42 · Post by **Qwerty 42** » 2008-02-01 02:39pm

I've only seen them on interstates here. They're a bit sobering.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2008-02-01 02:41pm

Yeah, they have them in Florida - there's actually a standardized sign - a short, circular white one.

SCRawl · Post by **SCRawl** » 2008-02-01 03:13pm

We have them in my part of Canada, at least. I remember hearing once that some of them get removed if they appear to be too distracting.

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2008-02-01 03:43pm

phongn wrote:Yeah, they have them in Florida - there's actually a standardized sign - a short, circular white one.

Really, the state puts them up? Or do you mean that is all that is allowed to be put up?

Fascinating, either way.

Edit:

Just found this that relates to the topic (but is only about memorials in the US):

Descansos

Part 1: Thoughts From Hwy 2 in Montana

We have previously reported on debates in some areas of the country about whether or not personalized roadside death memorials should be allowed along the highways. Texas, for example, allows memorials only for those killed in DWI accidents. New Mexico, on the other hand, celebrates its markers, also known as descansos, and local newspapers report when a new one goes up.

In many states, personalized memorials are simply outlawed, and it's up to a state agency to honor the dead in a standardized, non-religious, bland and ultimately anonymous way.

In Colorado, for example, highway shrines are forbidden. After the ACLU demanded that the state's first attempt at reminding others of the tragedy, a small wooden cross, be scrapped, the state eventually settled on a rectangular blue sign with white letters and a red 'x.' But even these can only stand for two years.

In Florida, markers were banned in 1997, and at least one radio station in Orlando -- Disneyworld Central -- offered a $100 bounty for descansos that were torn down and delivered to it. According to a news report, New Jersey allows markers along the Atlantic City Expressway to be left up for no more than 10 days, and can only be posted under police escort. Angry Organizations like "Freedom From Religion," based in Madison, WI, want them all removed, calling the markers a fad, and saying that its almost like driving through a graveyard.

But it isn't a fad. Roadside markers date back almost as far as roads themselves (and certainly from the time when roads got good enough for someone to work-up a fatal accident-allowing speed) back to ancient Rome or Greece, or one of those great early civilizations.

And that's key, in our view. These markers are a sign of a civilized society. They are mysterious and touching. We've seen and photographed a lot of them over the past 15 years, and they're great, even the ones that are created by those with only a pile of rocks and a plastic dinosaur at their disposal. Certain roads, like Hwy 93 from Las Vegas, NV to Phoenix, AZ are notable in our opinion, mainly for their large collection of descansos.

The excuses to outlaw the shrines are many. Some say they are a distraction to motorists. Others worry about cars hitting those who caretake the shrines. Still others have a church/state separation axe to grind. But none of complaints really hold water, from our experience.

We thought we'd bring it up again after our recent trip along Highway 2, in northwestern Montana through Glacier National Park. Montana, too, must have some rule against the homemade memorials. Because along Highway 2 there are dozens and dozens of identical white cross markers, each one attached to a rebar, and floating at about eye level.

They appear every few miles, with some tricky turns getting more than their fair share. Every once in a while, two or three crosses were attached to the same rebar, and we skidded to a stop when we turned a corner to have our headlights reflect against a 9-cross whopper. In terms of distraction, no shining collection of pinwheels and flags is nearly as attention-grabbing as a pole with nine crosses on it.

A cross or other state sanctioned marker serves as a warning only. Either it says "This road is dangerous, so be careful," or "If you drink and drive around here, you're next." But it certainly doesn't give any information about the person who lost it. It also means that crumb-bums and drunks are given the same state-sponsored memorial as the well-missed.

(Part 2 continues at the link)

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2008-02-01 03:59pm

FSTargetDrone wrote:Really, the state puts them up? Or do you mean that is all that is allowed to be put up?

Oh, neither - it's just that those are by far the most common.

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2008-02-01 04:01pm

phongn wrote:
FSTargetDrone wrote:Really, the state puts them up? Or do you mean that is all that is allowed to be put up?
Oh, neither - it's just that those are by far the most common.

Oh, ok I see. Thanks.

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2008-02-01 04:08pm

Yeah, they're pretty common here. For some particularly notably accidents a permanent marker will be placed. (here in Whitby, such a marker was placed near a rail bridge over a road, where two people were killed in 2004 when the last few cars of a train derailed right on the bridge and their car was crushed by a falling shipping container).

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2008-02-01 04:18pm

Here in WV the crosses and circular floral arrangements are the most common, but it's rare for them to be up more than a year.

There are exceptions, of course... like a man's tribute to his daughters killed when their boat crashed into the riverbank near the road. Those two crosses have the names engraved on the sides, and reflective strips decorating the front.

Amusingly, the pheonomenon's even referenced in songs, like "Three Wooden Crosses".

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2008-02-01 05:42pm

There's a ton of them along Highway 17 in the Ottawa Valley, there's one outside Renfrew that is a large white cross with a name engraved in it. The unusual thing about it is that someone actually cuts the grass around it once a week.