So Sad

[biggirl]

I drove into town today for my last interview. On the way, I noticed the 4 white crosses in the ditch to represent a family that was killed by a drunk driver earlier this summer. I see them every day that I go into to town and my heart goes out to this family....

I believe it was the father and the children that were killed. Today I saw the mother out kneeling next to the crosses. This was at 11 am. AFter my interview about 1 hour 15 minutes later I drove back again and saw the mom still there. I felt so bad and got tears in my eyes. I wanted to stop and give her a hug, but I didn't know if that was acceptable or not. I just can't imagine the pain she is going through, but just the thought of it happening to me or my family I just start crying.

I just wanted to share. It is so sad. I just wish this woman peace. I also want to share so if you know someone that is going to drink and drive to stop them. It could totally ruin someone else's life. Gosh...this is just so sad. It really brings it home when you actually see the living family members suffering.

[JerseyRich]

Damn...now I'm welling up.

[Furtherman]

Are they buried there too?

[Nothing Sound]

I never quite understood the whole cross on the side of the road thing.
Why would you want to memorialize the place where someone was killed?

[biggirl]

Are they buried there too?

No...but they have crosses up at the accident site with flowers, stuffed animals, etc...personally I think it is a little too much of a distraction to other drivers, but I suppose it helps the family members.

[RhinoinMN]

Are they buried there too?

No. It is too hard to get through the ice.

[drjoek]

Not to make light of this but There was a book by Carl Hiassen where the lead villians gimmick was to go around a steal all those raod side memorials and plant them all over the lawn. Hiassen always based his characters on actual looneys who lived in Fla

[RhinoinMN]

No...but they have crosses up at the accident site with flowers, stuffed animals, etc...personally I think it is a little too much of a distraction to other drivers, but I suppose it helps the family members.

I think Fernando may have been joking.

[Donnie Iris]

I never quite understood the whole cross on the side of the road thing.
Why would you want to memorialize the place where someone was killed?

I agree; always found that odd.

[RhinoinMN]

Not to make light of this but There was a book by Carl Hiassen where the lead villians gimmick was to go around a steal all those raod side memorials and plant them all over the lawn. Hiassen always based his characters on actual looneys who lived in Fla

Chuck's gimmick is definitely better.

[Furtherman]

No...but they have crosses up at the accident site with flowers, stuffed animals, etc...personally I think it is a little too much of a distraction to other drivers, but I suppose it helps the family members.

That's just the thing... it's a distraction, and a dangerous one at that. Why cause such a distraction for the benefit of the few when it is dangerous for the many?

[drjoek]

Chuck's gimmick is definitely better.

Come to think of it Chuck would be a great character in a Hiassen book
He was from Tampa too


hmmm

[Furtherman]

I think Fernando may have been joking.

No, just wondering why she wouldn't go to their graves. Maybe they were cremated. Anyway, like biggirl said, it's a distraction. But everyone grieves in their own way, so I shouldn't judge.

[biggirl]

That's just the thing... it's a distraction, and a dangerous one at that. Why cause such a distraction for the benefit of the few when it is dangerous for the many?

I think that too. There is this extremely dangerously curvy road between Bozeman and Big Sky, MT....there were white crosses up all over the place, but after a few years of vacationing there we realized the crosses were gone....apparently they were so distracting that others were getting in accidents because of them.

[drjoek]

I think it tends to be a Latin thing in particular

[biggirl]

I think it tends to be a Latin thing in particular

what the??? I am lost with this post.

[drjoek]

what the??? I am lost with this post.


sorry
The roadside memorials are favored by hispanic people is my understanding

[biggirl]

sorry
The roadside memorials are favored by hispanic people is my understanding

ohhhh....now I get it...these people were white, but I believe you anyhow.

[Dude!]

That's just the thing... it's a distraction, and a dangerous one at that. Why cause such a distraction for the benefit of the few when it is dangerous for the many?

that is the most ridiculous...
and the most telling...
comment i have ever read
at least since reading
the Communist Manifesto
in 8th grade

personally, i can drive safely
and listen to the radio at the same time
or look at white crosses briefly
or read street signs

i can't even believe someone
would think that way or write that

leave the poor woman alone
to grieve for chrissakes
she lost her whole family

i'm sure alot of people drove
more carefully AFTER seeing her

[RhinoinMN]

No, just wondering why she wouldn't go to their graves. Maybe they were cremated. Anyway, like biggirl said, it's a distraction. But everyone grieves in their own way, so I shouldn't judge.

The DOT gives them (survivors, family) a grace period before the crosses are taken down.


On the other hand, there is a road in MT that goes from Bozeman to Big Sky. There are white crosses peppered throughout all 15 miles of the road. They do it for a reminder to slow the fuck down. These crossed are very plain, not flashy so they are not distracting.

[Furtherman]

that is the most ridiculous...
and the most telling...
comment i have ever read
at least since reading
the Communist Manifesto
in 8th grade


Leave her alone? How am I bothering her? My response tells nothing.

Don't even try to pretend that my response is cruel. You've posted enough that we know your thinking skips over any common sense.

[Dude!]

Leave her alone? How am I bothering her? My response tells nothing.

Don't even try to pretend that my response is cruel. You've posted enough that we know your thinking skips over any common sense.

i don't pretend that your response was cruel
just idiotic

[~Katja~]

we have a cross or two in a dangerous curve that has been there for years now.
I understand the memorial and respect for lost family members, but at the same time they can be distracting, especially the one I am referring to is decorated in the most ridiculous ways throughout the seasons... halloween, x-mas, memorial day deco... flashy sparkling ribbons and items propped up all around them...
Why not do that at the graveside? Or have a memorial for them near you?
I don't mean to sound cruel and cold, but there are so many other ways to remember and respect.

[Furtherman]

i don't pretend that your response was cruel
just idiotic

Nope. And considering you joked about it in another thread, yours is the most telling of all.

[Dude!]

Nope. And considering you joked about it in another thread, yours is the most telling of all.

no, yours is the most telling of all

[Reephdweller]

I never quite understood the whole cross on the side of the road thing.
Why would you want to memorialize the place where someone was killed?


It might seem odd and it does to me also, but at the same time I don't question it because thankfully that type of situation has not ever affected me in that way so I don't know how I would be either. I just respect them for their need to have something like that. I think that I would be more quiet and keep it to myself, but I really don't know. Everybody deals with loss differently, and the same can be said for tragic loss. Some quietly grieve while others erect a memorial or make it their life's mission prevent others from having the same thing happen to their loved ones. Either way I just respect it and leave it at that.

My heart does go out to the families of those who have that happen to them and their loved ones. Sometimes those roadside memorials seem silly to me, and other times it reminds me how precious life is.

[PapaBear]

I think the crosses can be useful in some cases. A lot of times, they remind people of accidents where one or several kids were killed while drunk driving. Or, on roads that are very dangerous, and someone died driving too fast.

I noticed something very strange when I visited my son at Ft. Knox, KY a couple of months ago. There was this one long, very straight, flat road that had crosses almost every few hundred feet. They were EVERYWHERE! My son told me that it had one of the highest fatality rates of any road in the country. Though it was straight and flat, I wondered why there would be so many crashes there. That's when I realized, the whole stretch of road was filled with strip clubs and bars just outside of a Military base. I guess it's just a bastion of drunk driving.

[topless_mike]

roadside graves creep me out.
but instead of them telling me to slow down, i am always curious as to what is there, what the sign says, etc. it is very distracting.

yo doc, you are right. the roadside memorial thing is heavily favored by latinos.

[NateCantDance]

I don't see how crosses on the side of the road are any more distracting than the GIANT FLASHING BILLBOARDS that are placed at 100 yard intervals on every major highway in the country.

[biggestmexi]

I don't see how crosses on the side of the road are any more distracting than the GIANT FLASHING BILLBOARDS that are placed at 100 yard intervals on every major highway in the country.

highway or interstate?

[NateCantDance]

Both?

[topless_mike]

I don't see how crosses on the side of the road are any more distracting than the GIANT FLASHING BILLBOARDS that are placed at 100 yard intervals on every major highway in the country.

i agree.
more reasons i love bermuda- advertising is illegal.

[Furtherman]

no, yours is the most telling of all

Good one, Pee-Wee.

[~Katja~]

I don't see how crosses on the side of the road are any more distracting than the GIANT FLASHING BILLBOARDS that are placed at 100 yard intervals on every major highway in the country.

they are not, but some are more than others.
I saw the most distracting billboard the other day, too thin and bright fonts on black background... no pictures... driving by you can hardly see what its for cause the fonts are not clear and easy to read in passing by... waste of space and advertising money

[AF Mike]

In urban areas (NYC) they chain ghost bikes at locations where cyclists have been killed.
The bikes are completely white and eerie as hell, especially at night.

Seeing one never fails to change my perspective a bit.


http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm164/afmike_bucket/ghost_bike.jpg

http:// www.ghostbikes.org

[FatassTitePants]

I dont get why people are so distracted by them either but I think motocyclists hate them because they can be impaled by them.