Roadside Memorials

     I have what might be an unpopular opinion concerning roadside memorials.  I don't like them.  They can distract drivers.  As time passes, the silk flowers fade, and the display becomes choked with weeds.  Mainly though, I don't like seeing someone's grief set out on the side of the road.  Here is a memorial I noticed recently:

On Rt. 38 and Midlantic Drive

 
     I don't know of any local controversy surrounding these displays.  When I began researching the practice of setting up these shrines, I learned there is lots of controversy out there.

     In the Unites States, the practice of building the memorials could have had it's start in the 1940's and 1950's when the Arizona State Police used white crosses to mark the site of fatal car crashes.  The police probably borrowed the idea of white crosses from the Hispanic tradition of placing a cross at each stop in a funeral procession where the pall bearers halted to take a rest.  Arizona police no longer mark accident sites, but residents continue the practice.  Roadside memorials are common in other countries.  There is even a tradition called the ghost bike - an old bicycle is painted white and placed on the side of the road where a cyclist has died.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_memorial

     As the numbers of memorials have increased, and the tributes have become more elaborate, the government has gotten involved.  In one area of the United Kingdom, memorials are removed after three months.  Some states charge fees for memorials.  Colorado, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin have banned memorials.

     The message behind the monuments is, "Drive safely."  I like what the state of West Virginia has done.  They will post a sign containing a safety message and the name of the deceased.  The sign will remain in place for three years for a fee of $200.  For an additional $200, the sign will stay for another three year period.  After six years, it will be taken down.

http://www.transportation.wv.gov/highways/traffic/roadsidememorials/Pages/default.aspx

     I think this is the nicest sort of memorial.  It has permanence.  It is dignified.  Tattered artificial flowers and soggy teddy bears don't honor the deceased and get the message across the way this simple marker does.  This changes my opinion of roadside memorials, and I would like to see the Burlington County Highway Department offer something like this.