Litter or Memorial? (Kingman, Wickenburg: house, move, street)

[AksarbeN]

Driving in the city and state everyone has seen more then one memorials along the street or road. I understand that a loved one or friend has been killed in an accident. Personally I understand the loss of someone but I don’t understand the “why” a street side memorial is placed?

I’ve been seeing many locations throughout the area and can’t believe that if someone has taken the time to place a memorial at the side of a street, and then they don’t come back and take care of the area around the memorial? Most of the locations appear to have been all but forgotten and are left in disarray. It isn’t any longer a location of where a friend or family member had died in an accident ~ it has become a very shabby looking pile of debris where a clutter of candles, glass, dead flowers, old plastic flowers, broken crosses, toys, faded photos, etc. have been left or dumped.

How long should these areas be allowed to clutter the city, or should they remain as a shabby memorial that is uncared for and all but forgotten? I don’t think that I would want to see a memorial at the street in front of my house or just down the street. Is this littering when it isn’t picked up or a memorial forgotten?

[irwin]

Maybe it is a good reminder that people need to stop driving like a bunch of maniacs! I read this morning how the 17 was shut down because some lunatics were driving down the interstate shooting at each other. What in the world is going on here people?

Those memorials also remind me how much I hate automobiles.

[sablebaby]

My bf who is from chicago, can't even believe that people in AZ do this. He thinks it's morbid. I do think it's a reminder to slow down and be more careful. But I understand what you are saying about keeping it up. I wonder what this palce will look like years from now with hundreds of these memorials all over the place.

[aj661]

ADOT used to put them up at the scene of fatalities on 93 between Wickenburg and Kingman. They were meant to serve as reminders but people just don't care. Over 45,000 lives are needlessly lost on US roadways every year. I had them happen right in front of me. -sorry, getting off the subject...

On the highways, ADOT allows them to remain as long as they aren't a hazard. I agree if they aren't maintained, they need to come down. Anything more than simple cross should be taken down regardless. The roadside isn't the place for piles of stuffed toys and glass bottled candles.

[MicheleVanDetti]

I agree that they should be maintained if allowed. What a terrible thing to do to a loved one to let their memorial go to heck. Not respectful to them, and not good for the rest of us.

I agree that it's pretty morbid, but I'm from Montana and the little white crosses are everywhere there! Lots of car accidents in MT.

[sugarlips]

Originally Posted by MicheleVanDetti

I agree that they should be maintained if allowed. What a terrible thing to do to a loved one to let their memorial go to heck. Not respectful to them, and not good for the rest of us.

I agree that it's pretty morbid, but I'm from Montana and the little white crosses are everywhere there! Lots of car accidents in MT.

Sheesh these are people that died...we don't need to be so insensitive. I don't know what I would do if one of my family members was killed in a car accident. You don't know how you would react until it happens to you.

What if the family doesn't live in the area to maintain a memorial?? What if strangers or others involved in the accident leave the items and family members are not aware? Maybe that memorial helps them heal? Passersby may see a shabby looking stuffed animal. Yet, I bet it has special meaning to the family. What's morbid to you may be very special to someone else.

As far as the memorials becoming litter, maybe there needs to be some guidelines as to how long the memorial stays up or that items need to be attached to the ground so that they do not become litter by accidentally blowing away. Enforcing it would be a challenge, however.

[azzarazona]

Here is a history about the memorials, supplied by wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_memorial

[sugarlips]

Great info. Thanks.

While I understand that these memorials might seem like a nuisance or eyesore to others, I strongly feel that they serve a very important purpose in the healing process of the bereaved. I only hope that the places where it is banned, those families find another outlet for their grief.

[AksarbeN]

Grieving family and friends should return to the roadside memorials and continue to care for them before they become littered with junk items. When that happens someone needs to clean it up. I guess there should also be a time limit on how long these things stay around as well. Would you want a memorial in the front or side yard of your home for yards to come just because of an accident that occurred? I’d go with a six month or year of grieving but after that family and friends need to visit the cemetery and not the location of the accident.

Several of the worst locations for accidents start looking like a cemetery and then become a junkyard in several months time.

[AOYAS]

Originally Posted by sugarlips

Sheesh these are people that died...we don't need to be so insensitive. I don't know what I would do if one of my family members was killed in a car accident. You don't know how you would react until it happens to you.

What if the family doesn't live in the area to maintain a memorial?? What if strangers or others involved in the accident leave the items and family members are not aware? Maybe that memorial helps them heal? Passersby may see a shabby looking stuffed animal. Yet, I bet it has special meaning to the family. What's morbid to you may be very special to someone else.

As far as the memorials becoming litter, maybe there needs to be some guidelines as to how long the memorial stays up or that items need to be attached to the ground so that they do not become litter by accidentally blowing away. Enforcing it would be a challenge, however.

I don't think the posters on this thread are being insensitive at all. They raise a very valid point.

It's one thing for family and friends of a person (or people) who died in a car accident to place a memorial at the site of the accident, maintain it, and remove the memorial once their grieving period has subsided. It's another situation entirely, when these family and friends place a pile (or piles) of paper, glass, and plastic goods (crosses, flowers, candles, etc) along the side of the road, unkempt and uncared for, so that the rest of the citizens of the city have to drive past it everyday, watching it slowly turn to a pile of junk (read: litter) along the roadway.

We all have sympathy for those who have perished. (I myself have recently lost an immediate family member, though, not by auto accident). Most of us do, in fact, understand the pain and grief the family and friends of the deceased are going through. However, it is unfair for all of us to have to see these sporatic, uncared for piles of litter throughout our city and along our roadways because people put them there, never to return and care for them.

There are MANY other ways that the bereaved can grieve and cope, which would not necessitate their constant and ongoing care and attention the way that these roadside "memorials" do. There are many things these family members and friends can do to memorialize their loved one, that would not infringe upon the other citizens of the city.

I agree that these memorials should be done away with, and that families and friends of the loved ones should find alternative outlets for their grief, which would not result in their littering along our roadways.