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Highway Cross Memorials Really a Problem? - READ ONLY

55 messages,  Last post on Mar 10, 2007 at 12:03 AM

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Messages Page 3 of 6

#16 of 55 Re: Agreed in part [larsb] by tpe

Feb 27, 2007 (9:16 am)

Replying to: larsb (Feb 27, 2007 8:54 am)
Based on some of the feedback these memorials are not commonly accepted.
 
Ten Commandment monuments are totally inapropriate on public land. I suspect that the only places you will see this is in states dominated by Conservative Christians. I wonder what would happen if someone erected a monument to Islam right next to one of these? Or better yet, a monument to Satanism. Afterall, who gets to decide what is and isn't an acceptable religion. Anyway, I doubt it would go over too well.
 
9/11 memorials probably are on public land but had to go through some recognized approval process before being erected.
 
As far as these memorials becoming en vogue I'd say it definitely happened in the last 15 years. I grew up and started driving in So. California and never saw one. I moved to So. Maryland 20 years ago and didn't see them back then. You can't drive 2 miles without seeing one now. I wonder what will happen when additional accidents occur at the same location. Maybe the survivors will work out some sort of time-sharing scheme.

#17 of 55 Re: Agreed in part [tpe] by habitat1

Feb 27, 2007 (9:26 am)

Replying to: tpe (Feb 27, 2007 9:16 am)
"Or better yet, a monument to Satanism."
 
...If it also bothers you that your US currency is emblazened with "In God We Trust", feel free to send it my way.

#18 of 55 Re: Agreed in part [tpe] by larsb

Feb 27, 2007 (9:30 am)

Replying to: tpe (Feb 27, 2007 9:16 am)
The cross memorials are without a doubt commonly accepted - the instances of people objecting to them is the exception to the rule.
 
I still hold that they are completely acceptable as long as they do not affect traffic flow and safety.

#19 of 55 Let's not go here by pf_flyer HOST

Feb 27, 2007 (9:49 am)

I knew that we'd wind up at separation of church and state, and that's not what this discussion is supposed to be about.
 
If we're done talking about the distraction hazard that roadside memorials may or may not pose, then I guess this has run its course.
 
But let's not open up a VERY volatile can of worms that has nothing to do with safety onthe roads please.
 

#20 of 55 Re: Agreed in part [habitat1] by tpe

Feb 27, 2007 (9:56 am)

Replying to: habitat1 (Feb 27, 2007 9:26 am)
...If it also bothers you that your US currency is emblazened with "In God We Trust", feel free to send it my way
 
I rarely use cash. Regardless, a satanist would have no problem with the phrase "In God We Trust" because his god would be satan. The only reason phrases like this have withstood challenges is because the term "God" is construed to be generic. You can insert your own personal meaning or non-meaning for that term.
 
A cross is not only a religious symbol but a symbol of Christianity. It absolutely should be illegal for this to be erected on anything but private land. If I had the time, money, and inclination I could challenge these roadside shrines on this basis and probably win. It might not make me too popular with the religious zealots and one only needs to watch the news to see how dangerous they can be.

#21 of 55 Re: Agreed in part [larsb] by tpe

Feb 27, 2007 (10:41 am)

Replying to: larsb (Feb 27, 2007 9:30 am)
The cross memorials are without a doubt commonly accepted
 
Really? What are you basing this absolute certainty on? In the last 2 days I've asked a half dozen co-workers what they thought about these roadside memorials. Every one of them kind of shrugged their shoulders and said that they don't understand them. A couple people that have kids added the comment that if their child ever died in an auto-accident that would be the last place they would ever want to visit. Maybe they don't posess your level of expertise when it comes to grief management.
 
I'm all for trying to establish whether or not these displays are commonly accepted. I'd obviously vote no but its a democracy, right. I'd go with the flow. However if this is what the majority wants then some guidelines should established. Similar to what exists for political campaigns. Where I live you can use public land for this purpose but all signs needs to be removed within 5 days of the election.

#22 of 55 Re: In Newport News Virgina there was a slight variation on the theme [lokki] by kylerenfrew

Feb 27, 2007 (11:50 am)

Replying to: lokki (Feb 27, 2007 8:38 am)
I remember that! I was down there around in the nineties.
Use to be around Newport News/Hampton VA. on I-64.
 
I liked it - got a kick out of it. Sorry to see it gone. So they said it was a safety problem, for crying out loud, life in general is a safety problem - you never get out alive.

#23 of 55 Re: Agreed in part [larsb] by smittynyc

Feb 27, 2007 (12:00 pm)

Replying to: larsb (Feb 27, 2007 9:30 am)
I agree that they're acceptable, even though I truly don't understand the mentality behind it.
 
Here's the thing, though -- nine times out of ten, isn't setting one of these up going to be a significant hazard in and of itself? One or more cars on the shoulder, someone hammering a stake into the ground, flowers, the photo, the whole nine yards? I mean, it's only a matter of time before we hear about an eighteen-wheeler drifting off the road and plowing into a group of people installing a roadside memorial (if it hasn't happened already).
 
I'm amazed by A. the sheer number of these things and B. some of the weird places where I see them. One of the closest to my house is off an ON-ramp from a local street onto a no-commercial-vehicle parkway. I can't figure out how that must've happened. And then there are the scary stretches of I-80 in eastern PA, where you seem to see them every quarter of a mile.

#24 of 55 Weird Memorials... by 1racefan

Feb 27, 2007 (12:10 pm)

I kind of understand the whole roadside memorial deal. But, I would never put one up myself for a loved one, and I believe they should only be allowed to remain for 30 days, and should have to be taken down.
 
However, one trend that I don't understand is where people are now having decals made, to go on the back of their vehicles that say, "In Loving Memory of 'insert name here', 19xx-20xx".
 
I could understand a sticker like this being placed on a custom car, if a father and son were building it together, and one died before it was completed. However, I am seeing more and more of these stickers on normal everyday cars. When I die, I don't want to be remembered by a sticker on the back of a relative/friend's Hyundai.

#25 of 55 I would never put one up by pf_flyer HOST

Feb 27, 2007 (12:20 pm)

I mean, that's hard to say having never had a loved one die in a traffic accident, but I tend to move on fairly rapidly and prefer to remember how people were, not how they died.
 
We had afatal accident just a mile from my house a few years ago that I just missed having a chance to be involved in. The only reason that I wasn't the car going through the intersection at a high rate of speed was that the car that did was going sofast that they prevented me from pulling out of my street. I had to wait as they sped ahead and were hit by someone at a crossroads.I came upon the scene maybe 10 seconds after it happened.
 
Long story short, the car withthe fatalitywas going 60 in a 30 zone, came to an intersection where someone unfamiliar with the area was trying to find their way and drove through a difficult to see stop sign and t-boned them.
 
A roadside memorial was erected with fresh flowers, etc. The township had relocated the stop sign toa more prominent place afterwards, and made it the biggest stopsign I've ever seen, but approaching that stop sign your attention was definitely drawn to the floral display since it was this burst of color and "stuff" in fairly barren swampy ground.
Quite a few people were concerened about it as a distraction and it eventually disappeared.

Messages Page 3 of 6

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