Whilst I really feel for those who lose friends and relatives in car crashes - there seems to be an increasing number of roadside memorials sprouting up .

I think they're ok for a few weeks - but there is one near us which now has a wooden cross, photos and flowers. Its been there for over a year now and regularly causes people to slow down resulting in a few near misses as its placed on a blind bend.

I believe there should be a time limit to these - or maybe I'm just a hard nosed git

 

I think WSCC have recently decreed that these memorials should be removed after three months

Seems fair to me

They are a distraction

 

Yep.

Our local council already do it.

 

They should not be allowed period!

We have grave yards and cemetery's for remembering our dead, not the side of the A36. They are distracting to out motorists and should not be allowed at all.

 

What has the Westy club got to do with it?

 

Do you feel the same way about road side hoardings and large billboards?

What about woemn walking down the street on the pavement who are attractive?

Surely the question is as a driver shouldn't you be able to focus on the driving and not the distractions? If not then can I suggest a set of blinkers.

 

some potential distractions are unavoidable - road signs or pedestrians for example

roadside memorials are completely avoidable - so there's no need for them and they should not be tolerated for more than a short period

most people don't die at the site of the flowers anyway - so it's pretty flawed symbolism

fwiw there are other roadside distractions I would like to see removed - advertising for example - but that's not the question posed here

 

It's "full stop", not "period", thank you

I think helps the bereaved to deal with the untimely death of their loved ones, but once the flowers have died, it's time to leave it be.

 

My dad died in a hospital bed.

I don't feel the need to go back to said bed to look at it or leave flowers.

Why is the side of a road different.

 

I think "untimely" is the key word here. Of course, plenty of people have untimely deaths in other ways (obviously I have no knowledge of your father's circumstances).

It's the same as people leaving flowers at the sight of murders.

One sees lots of roadside shrines in Europe - more of a Catholic thing perhaps?