Your Local Roadside Memorials
In his post about roadside memorials, I was glad to see Richard Epstein touch on a subject so close to my own heart. I'm fascinated by the variation of memorials from state to state, and I think the matter, because it seems trivial and apolitical enough to escape "serious" attention, is a great indicator of where the dead hand of standardization weighs most heavily, and where citizens still push back against it sentimentally.
In 2008, I tried to solicit responses from American Scene readers about their state's policies and practices, without much luck, so maybe it's worth trying again. Would any Ricochet members care to report on their states' roadside memorials? Are they -- like here in Virginia -- official-looking signs with a civic admonishment to drive carefully, or are they -- as in Wyoming -- lengths of rebar with stark sheet-metal crosses welded to them? How often do kitschy handmade memorials last before being removed? Is there any public or political controversy associated with them? Photographs are especially welcome.
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Re: Your Local Roadside Memorials
That should be "How often do..."
Jun '10
Re: Your Local Roadside Memorials
Irrespective of state, I hate roadside memorials of any type or description for one simple reason: The dead should be remembered for more than where they died. Grief is not a public process, road side memorials are an attempt to impose it on the public in the guise of a drive safely message. By contrast real grief is a very private affair that some persons never quite manage to come through. Now, I can, as an individual, help someone grieving by being sympathetic or in some way offering matterial support, but I cannot grieve for them by planting a teddy bear or flowers at the castle gate to cite a most egregious and historic example.
Edited on Aug 24, 2010 at 8:29amJun '10
Re: Your Local Roadside Memorials
From: "County wants memorial removed," Faribault County [MN] Register, 6/29/09
Story link
Is it government regulation of grief or a concern for public safety? On May 20, 2007, 20-year-old Josh Johnson of Blue Earth was killed when he lost control of his pickup truck along a curve on County State Aid Highway 6. Shortly after that, family members and several friends erected a roadside memorial as a tribute to him. That was two years ago. Now, the county is asking Craig Johnson to remove his son’s memorial. “When I read the letter it brought back all those feelings, it almost killed me again,” says Johnson. In the letter dated June 16, Faribault County engineer John McDonald wrote that county officials are sympathetic to what happened to Josh, but safety issues must be addressed. “The memorial created is a hazard to the traveling public and should be removed,” says McDonald. [...] “It’s going to stay. I told him I’m not going to take it down. I’m going to fight for it. If the commissioners want to talk to me, I’m right here,” says Johnson.
May '10
Re: Your Local Roadside Memorials
In California they tend to name bridges, interchanges and sections of freeway after fallen police officers, firefighters, or just anyone the legislature want to remember. The signs are pretty straightforward. Here's one for a motorcycle trooper (no relation) who died when this interchange collapsed in the Northridge Earthquake.
Of course that's not the only CA road memorial for a guy named Dean. This one attracts tourists. There's always flowers and whatnot out there.
The state also has this program in place, but I've never noticed the signs.
Unofficial roadside memorials are much like anywhere else, and can stay in place for a very long time if no one complains. I know of a few, off the main roads, that have been in place for years. Other vanish quickly.
Re: Your Local Roadside Memorials
We are turning into a Place a $3 Teddy Bear Against a Chain-link Fence nation. I find it so passive that it's irritating. Yes, I am a terrible person, but the "memorials" annoy me.
Aug '10
Re: Your Local Roadside Memorials
They seem to survive unmolested in Texas. But then there is lots of room in Texas. They're pathetic but can hardly be considered road hazards. This is drifting off-message if not off-topic, but I might point out that Slovenia has informal roadside memorials all over the place. They all consist of flowers and candles in jars; they are always well-tended; and they all harken to WWII. Generally they indicate places where civilians were executed. Never underestimate the long long memories of Yugoslavs. I can only guess what would happen to anyone who thought to tamper with these little shrines.
Re: Your Local Roadside Memorials
I see these little memorials all over the country. Sometimes, I see the accidents that inspire the memorials. The memorials tend to be less uniform in appearance and go unmolested in the south for whatever reason. Perhaps I'm too much of a sentimentalist, but I don't find them annoying in the least. The dummy that changes lanes without looking and runs people off the road, the self absorbed idiot that is all over the road while texting, the mensa society member who cuts in front of an 80,000 pound vehicle and applies his brakes, those are the ones that annoy me. They are the ones that get people killed. When I see these little memorials, it's a reminder that we are not invincible out here, and I normally end up backing off the throttle just a bit and giving people more room. I'd like to see fewer memorials, because I'd like to see more attentive drivers.
Jun '10
Re: Your Local Roadside Memorials
Matt, I can get you literally dozens of such photos. It's a tradition here in New Mexico going back centuries. I forget the Spanish name for these monuments; maybe you can ask Joe Escalante. A need to get some batteries for my digital camera and find the cord for the download so it may take a few days. Email me please as a reminder that I promised.
Re: Your Local Roadside Memorials
Roadside memorials cluster around the sharp turns that kink the narrow roads winding through the hilly areas outside my home town -- nearly all for drunk high schoolers. Some memorials are practically on top of each other.
Re: Your Local Roadside Memorials
James Poulos, Ed.
Roadside memorials cluster around the sharp turns that kink the narrow roads winding through the hilly areas outside my home town -- nearly all for drunk high schoolers. Some memorials are practically on top of each other. · Aug 24 at 4:45pm
Yes. Sometimes, the most dangerous drivers are people who travel a particular stretch of road every day and know every little kink and curve in it. There is a beautiful stretch of mountain road between Alamogordo, NM, and Cloudcroft, NM, that takes you over a mile above sea level to a marvelous resort. The drive back down is treacherous, and most of the fatalities are locals. They've become so accustomed to that highway that they no longer respect its hazards. Add alcohol to the mix, and the result is carnage.
Jun '10
Re: Your Local Roadside Memorials
Dave you write: "The drive back down is treacherous, and most of the fatalities are locals. They've become so accustomed to that highway that they no longer respect its hazards. Add alcohol to the mix, and the result is carnage." All of which renders roadside memorials useless as reminders of danger, and hence from a societal perspective there is no reason to have them.
Re: Your Local Roadside Memorials
Cas, and the non-locals like me see the crazy locals, and see the memorials, and make a mental note that certain driving habits have fatal consequences. Memorials can serve a societal purpose, as well as a purpose for the families. Like beauty, I suppose, the worth of a memorial is in the eye of the beholder. It's no more an imposition on me than any other sort of memorial. The family member who lost someone in a ditch has experienced just as much of a loss as the family member whose loved one died in a war zone or at Ground Zero. If their expression of grief angers you,..well,..okay then. Have at it.
May '10
Re: Your Local Roadside Memorials
It seems Americans memoralize victims more often than heroes.
Those crosses are pretty common where I live. I've never been bothered by them, nor heard anyone complain. Even if they don't serve any societal purpose, people should be as free to plant a cross on the side of the road as they are to carve their initials into a tree.
But I do hate to see victimhood memorialized as if it was willing sacrifice. I had mixed feelings when a memorial for 9/11 victims was first discussed.
Jun '10
Re: Your Local Roadside Memorials
Dave, the expression of grief does not anger me, nor does it confound me, nor make me nervous, nor anything else for that matter. What I have been trying to say is that we have become a society of emoters where as long as we make the right public noises we have earned some kind of public bona fides. Does the expression, "I feel your pain" not encapsulate this empty silliness? The truth is I don't feel your pain, and I never will. I can only sympathize or commiserate with the other. Real grief is something that is borne by a person and not by a society or other organization. Indeed, the strength of a society in the presence of death is that it goes on without grief, in most cases as if nothing had happened. This insouciance is a good and valuable thing in society despite its supposed negative impact on the grieving individual. Ask yourself, Dave, where would the military be if whole armies fell into grief if one of their number died. Is not the point to "cowboy up" and carry on?
Aug '10
Re: Your Local Roadside Memorials
Melanie, as a curmudgeon, I enjoy your irritation. I live in a city with such a memorial and that despiccable fence thing with teddy bears and silly "Di Di"-esque mementos attached. Disgusting. I do not mind crosses or stars, I like those: they lift my thoughts to higher, poetic, serious realities. Once, when visiting this memorial, I watched and listened as a National Park Service fellow in the Smokey outfit addressed a large class of, oh--maybe third graders. He angrily pointed to the rows of markers for each of the victims, including children, that had lost their lives. Then he rhetorically quizzed the children, eyes wide open--in fear I'd guess, "Do you know what killed those children?" "Hatred of the government." I suppose the word "hatred" of the government can import a lot of different meanings for different folks. I certainly distrust the government--and I am a government regulator. Aren't you a bit relieved that I think of my distrust of government every time I pick up the phone to "regulate" on someone?
Edited on Aug 31, 2010 at 5:11am