Roadside memorials

Last night at work l listened to a timely special on ABC radio. A brilliant repeat called White Lines, White Crosses from December 2003. Appropriately for Good Friday and the holiday weekend, the program dealt with a growing phenomena in Australia - roadside memorials for accident victims,

Simple or elaborate, makeshift or permanent, these memorials are public markers of private grief, and turn public land into private sacred space. Whether or not you think they should be allowed, or you think they’re a useful road safety reminder, or a distraction and potential road hazard – they do hold great meaning for the people who erect them, and open a window on contemporary spirituality and the rituals of grief.

Personally, I accept and respect these sad memorials, considering them valid statements bearing witness to a life lost. Without fail, passing a memorial has me quietly reflecting on it's significance to the victim's connections, and motoring in general... (Click images to enlarge)

None more so than the five small white crosses on the Pacific Highway north of Taree. It's both a heartbreaking and chilling image as one flashes by at 100kph. A whole family were taken out some years ago at Easter. Five crosses send a powerful message.

Actually I'll be passing by in a few days, returning from a visit to The Angel. Despite the awkward location, I'll endeavour to take an image of the scene and send it via moblog.

Comments

[rat]

we've got a few of those white crosses down here as well. i think they are a more effective way of making people think about their driving than some of the ads on telly.
well they make me think anyway.

[Mick]

This link presents a photographic presentations looking at a number of roadside memorials and tries to give a little bit of the story behind them - very moving. Here's the link...

[adrian]

Spot on rat. It's surprising the advertising agency for road safety hasn't implemented what you suggest.

Thanks for the magic link Mick. Fantastic images there of American memorials. Though the introductory quote from Marcel Proust is a little unsettling, given I'll be on a high-speed run up the Coast within the hour. I'll take it as a timely reminder. Cheers,

[Ian]

Safe travels there, Adrian; Happy Easter to you and your Angel :-)

[adrian]

Much appreciated Ian and a Happy Easter to you and yours. Indeed, a Happy Easter to all my readers.

I'll be posting from the fast lane over the next few days - if The Angel allows it. She's cruel, but fair, yet what can a humble cabbie do in the presence of an angel, but submit !

[johnie]

yeah, well while I can sympathise I wonder just when we will run out of land for highway when those little white crosses cover every inch of the verge eh? I too have had relatives die on the roads but I do think the proper place for grieving and mourning belongs where the body is not on the national highway. I can well remember NZ's highway 1 between Auckland and Taupo, absolutely littered with white crosses, some draped in the late victims clothing they wore at the time of the accident, every few km's. Quite harrowing but still inappropriate in my opinion. Better to reflect at the grave site then on the side of a busy highway, where all said and done it's another hazard which may well take someone elses life due to the destraction hey.

[Splat Guy]

Roadside crosses slowly fade away; here in Canberra there are many that have been overgrown and have hence disappeared. They don't last forever - only as long as the dead person's loved ones need the outlet for their grief.

[mjec]

I've only been driving five months (aged 17) but even before I could these memorials would always cause some consideration. It's more to me than a reminder of the dangers of the road. It's a reminder of a life led by someone, a real person, who will now never exist, converse, laugh, cry or touch another again. It has far more an impact upon me to see a small memorial, a few flowers, than all the gory TV ads in the world.

[Ian]

mjec; I wholeheartedly agree although I guess johnie has a valid point if there's that many of them. I am now 54 and those small memorials are like a knife when I see them. There was an accident in Darwin the week before last, caused by rain and nothing else - and the two young men were just your typical two mates out for a spin at night. To see their friends - one by one off to the side of a busy arterial road - sitting dealing privately, yet somehow publicly, with their grief, was a harrowing sight. I am sure it has gone a long way to ensuring that our Easter break has so far been fatality free.

[Darp Hau]

Yeah ...such public displays probably do more to slow people down that any number of TV campaigns.

There is a big one on Mona Vale road just past the Bahai Temple. Has a Newport footy jersey tied around the pole I think.

[Shelly Horton]

Hey Uncle A,

It's Shelly here. Well after having my pants pulled down by Channel Nine guess what I'm now a blogger.

Check out my site.

And if you read carefully I've involved you in a game of "it".

Love
Shelly On the Telly

[AdventureGirl]

I think it's a great reminder. Unfortunately the people who heed it are probably not the ones who need to.

It's a terrible tragedy when a whole family is lost in one go and must be a terrible shock and loss for remaining family members.

Also the loss of anyone due to accident is the worst for me, because I would hate to be robbed of the chance to say goodbye.