Roadside Shrines

[jimmygun]

I attempted to get a thread going a long time ago but it went nowhere. I thought maybe I would start up again.

I am against roadside shrines. What is your take?

[slingblade]

As in TBVM in a bathtub on the side of the road, bedecked with crusty, faded plastic flowers...

Or as in a cross on the side of the road, also bedecked in crusty, faded plastic flowers, marking where someone died?

Either way, I don't really have an opinion. Although the ones where someone died make me say "awww." TBVM just makes me snicker.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

If they were on my property I would remove them.

[NewtonTrino]

I think they are stupid but not criminal.

[UnrepentantSinner]

I think state and local laws should allow or disallow them. If we're going to disallow roadside shrines, then we will need to disallow notices for yard sales, etc.

[Shrike]

They often make me wonder "How in FSM's name did you manage to crash here?".

[Jackalgirl]

I think state and local laws should allow or disallow them. If we're going to disallow roadside shrines, then we will need to disallow notices for yard sales, etc.

Ditto. I don't have any problems with them. People want to put up a memorial and perhaps a warning, that's fine. If the state/locality allows them, tho, they should be registered (that is, there should be a caretaker listed) and I think that they should be maintained. I also think they should be limited to memorials related to that spot so as to prevent "shrine bloat".

[lionking]

They make me slow down and think about my driving. They don't bother me at all.

[Soapy Sam]

I'm curious about the word "Shrine" in this context.
You mean "momorial" or something more actively tended?

[UnrepentantSinner]

I'm curious about the word "Shrine" in this context.
You mean "momorial" or something more actively tended?

He meant memorial Google search (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=roadside+memorials&aq=f&oq=). I suspect shrine was used to denigrate them.

[bluess]

I find them distracting when driving, and wish that those that put them up take the memorials down when they get tatty looking.

There is one downtown which I found sweet. Its in a pedestrian area and states that, as the young man being commemorated loved the area, the memorial was being installed there rather than on street where his fatal vehicular accident occurred. There area had been taped off, and was recently removed.

ETA: Why is this in R&P? The memorials rarely have anything to do with anyone's religion.

[Alareth]

Several states have ordinances governing them. There are restrictions on how ornate and elaborate they can be and they have to be removed within a certain timeframe.

They can be distractions and they have been known to interfere maintenance and mowing crews.

[jimmygun]

I mean shrine. People have erected elaborate shrines complete with flowers, crosses, solar lights, bears, dolls, everything but a marching band in a gross display of their own misery.

Four or five years ago a distraught father took his two young daughters in his car and travelling down a road in our town, swerved into an oncoming gravel truck killing all three. On the side of the hill, for all to see is a giant heart probably 25 feet high mowed into the weeds and filled with all manner of gawdy trinkets one would expect at a gypsy fair. It is a shrine put there by the classmates of the two girls. It is a shrine to a murder/suicide. It does nothing to prevent this sort of thing from happening and it doesn't allow the classmates the chance to get on with their lives. I perpetuates the depression stage that all go into but most pull out of.

On top of that it is a constant reminder to the innocent truck driver who was used as a murder weapon as he travels the same road every day.

Other sites have filthy dirty wreathes, crappy plastic flowers, that sort of thing that have been there for years. It is a cheap and gawdy display that holds the public in emotional blackmail. It is my belief that there is a place for mourning, a cemetary. Out of respect for the family the public will and should acknowledge the funeral by pulling over to let it pass, by removing ones hat, that sort of thing but the respect should be two way, the family should respect the public's right to go about its business and not be coerced into sharing the grief with someone they do not know and probably don't care about.

They should be banned altogether or at least have a time limit set for their removal.

[fagin]

Why stop there. Why not stick one where ever someone dies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Creosote

[Dymanic]

...the family should respect the public's right to go about its business and not be coerced into sharing the grief with someone they do not know and probably don't care about.
I wouldn't be too quick to assume that it is family members creating these shrines. In fact, it seems to me that the larger the shrine, the more likely it is that the bulk of the contributions are from people who were not close to the deceased, let alone related. "The public" hardly need to be coerced into sharing someone else's grief. Large segments of the entertainment industry are based on the fact that they can hardly get enough of it.

[jimmygun]

I wouldn't be too quick to assume that it is family members creating these shrines. In fact, it seems to me that the larger the shrine, the more likely it is that the bulk of the contributions are from people who were not close to the deceased, let alone related. "The public" hardly need to be coerced into sharing someone else's grief. Large segments of the entertainment industry are based on the fact that they can hardly get enough of it.

It is ultimately the responsibility of the family to allow such vulgar displays to be erected and left there. As a member of the public I feel it is coersion. It is emotional blackmail that says they can put up these displays and I am not allowed to even suggest that they are tacky and vulgar.

By the way, it has gotten to the point where people have erected these shrines to a goddamned cat in our town. Unbelievable!