Helping you to help yourself

Are Roadside Death Memorials Dangerous?

Police and local authorities are taking action to curb the number of tributes left at the site of fatal road accidents.

They have said they believe they are a dangerous distraction to other motorists and that grieving relatives put themselves at risk assembling shrines on busy roads.

Some places have already acted and said tributes will only be allowed where it is deemed safe and appropriate and will be removed after three months. Some authorities have even set out guidelines to bereaved families stating that;

Police family liaison officers will accompany bereaved friends and family who wish to lay tributes at crash sites to make sure they can visit in safety. They will also make sure tributes are left in a safe place so they do not cause a danger to drivers and other road users.

Roadside tributes will be removed by the county council after 12 weeks – or less if the family wishes – and kept in a secure place for the family to collect.

Do you think people should be free to lay tributes in memory of loves ones killed in RTA’s?

Surely a floral tribute with a portrait, for example on an area of approx’ 3 meters is less of a distraction than an advertisement board of approximately the size of a house?

Or do you believe they are a potential danger?

Recently a roadside memorial dedicated to the four teenagers killed in Lynbrook two weeks ago was a loving tribute to lost friends.

To the crash investigators called in to examine another death at the same spot yesterday, the tribute was part of the reason another life was claimed.

“Don’t leave me flowers by the roadside. It’s not the place I lived. It’s just the place I died.”

Source: “Flowers by the Roadside” by Oxford band The Family Machine.

“Let me know your thoughts on this”.

Dawn Pugh Expert therapist.

Related articles by Zemanta

• How do you deal with grief? (anchormast.com)
• The Comfort Of Memorial Websites (huffingtonpost.com)

{ 0 comments }