A Rant

Just my 2 cents… I would say in ‘defense’ of this Eric that in most cases (at least around here) it is teens who have died and are being memorialized in this manner. These makeshift crosses serve as a reminder and as a warning in some cases to the kids that most likely know the victims. You’ve toured our area often enough to know that most of our side roads here in Spotsylvania are blind, windy, country roads. There are plenty of those memorials along the way as teens die on a fairly regular basis here. Some were just killed last week out near the battlefield. A month ago I had to attend (by law) a teen-driving conference with my 16 yr.-old son so that he could apply for a parking pass for next year. It was the most gut-wrenching, nauseating experience of my life as they presented 60 min. of accident photographs and 911 audio calls of local teens being killed in a whole myriad of awful car accidents. To hear a kid screaming that his friends brains are ‘in his hair’ is enough to scare the crap out of any teen driver and parent. So although I can see the ‘eyesore’ issue with these roadside crosses, I also think that they help to serve a greater good in ‘reminding’ teen drivers when and where their peers have died in hopes they will think twice about driving recklessly themselves.

I agree somewhat. I mean, a simple cross is acceptable, but anything more is ridiculous. As a new driver though I can say that when I see a cross set up somewhere, I start thinking about it. I think about what the driver must have done wrong (other than maybe drive drunk) that caused the accident and then I avoid those mistakes. There is one on my way to work that reminds me not to take that curve too fast. There’s another at a tricky intersection on a back road that reminds me to be really careful turning or else I’ll hit the trees.

So while some of them are a little much, I don’t think that they should be condemned altogether.

So, Eric, are you advocating having tax dollars go towards tearing them down?

Lately, there is a new trend here in Nashville to make one’s vehicle into a rolling memorial. I see signs on the backs of SUVs almost daily, “in memory of so-and-so, with date of birth and death.” it seems so bizarre and out of place to me. i always wonder not about the person who has died but more about the person who is using their car as a rolling memorial. i don’t mean to be judgemental because folks deal with their grief in different ways. i do agree with eric, though, grief ought not to be a traffic hazard.
dan

Val, you simply must be the keynote speaker at my cocktail party.

Its a Winter Gala………

LOL

Eric,
Nice rant…a direct hit upon one that irritates me as well. From out of nowhere, these things started cropping up in my part of Ohio about fifteen years ago. They always made me wonder if “Dan” was a careless driver or an overly active Golden Retriever…either way, I didn’t want them on my mind.

I’ve vowed to make their removal a plank in my campaign for Governor….IF (and that’s a big if) I ever run for Governor.
Tom

I’m definitely not upset with others who do not want the crosses present, but I will just add a differing opinion in stating that they do not bother me in the least, have never caused my attention to be so diverted that I was in any danger of crashing, etc. One thing I would say is that, just because I do not know these people, doesn’t mean I don’t care about their situation, nor do I really think it means they are simply having a pity party. In fairness, I will admit that my father was killed in a car accident, 30 years ago, when I was 9, so maybe that is why I feel a little differently towards the people that put up those monuments. I have never erected one of these monuments, nor do I personally know anyone who has, but just thought I would mention another perspective. I definitely am not trying to be argumentative, either, as I love this site and like reading the posts of others as well.

I started thinking about your post a little more, after posting mine, yesterday evening. You’re definitely right in that those monuments are being erected on public or private property that does not belong to them, and I’m assuming that in most, if not all, of the situations, permission was not granted to do so. While I can empathize with the person’s feelings who would put up those monuments, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to put them up along the side of a highway or some backwoods two-lane road, where it could cause some of the problems you mentioned. For example, my family has always known the approximate location of where my father’s life was taken, but never would have thought to go and put something up there — we just visit the place where he is buried, taking flowers, etc. There is probably a better way for them to remember or honor their loved ones.