To feel uncomfortable with the increase in roadside memorials?

[BLEEPyouYOUbleepingBLEEP]

Just come back from hols in Greece, and it's made me realise just how polite and good the roads and drivers are here...no...really!!

The drivers are maniacs there, the roads are crap and there are tons of mopeds weaving in and out with the drivers with no helmets on.

At the sides of almost every road are tons and tons of roadside memorials and I personally felt really uncomfortable with them.

I understand why the family of someone killed on the road would want to commemorate their loved one, and warn others of the dangers (which it obviously doesn't do in Greece cos they're still driving like idiots) but how many memorials are too many?

In the UK flowers placed at the scene just after the event seem respectful, but is this OK if it turns into a shrine? Or if people start putting up ghost bikes?

We saw loads of these shrines in Crete (more so on the hair pin bends ) and was also under the impression that they were shrines to mark the dead.

I was actually quite drawn to the images of christ that had been hammered/etched onto metal plates and placed inside. It looked somehow etherial and iconic. Almost tempted to buy some in the gift shops but settled for a jar of greek honey instead

am and at Greatgoing's post - the cemetery where my mum is buried has a children's part as well, and it is all beautifully tended, no sign of rotting or blackened toys. Most of the children's graves have some toys on them but they are all kept very well.

I have no experience of losing a loved one in such circumstances, so I don't know how I would feel in the exact situation. But I have told my DP and family on numerous occasions that should I die on the road, NOT to and 'commemorate' my (I hope) rich and fulfilling life with limp cellophane-wrapped flowers taped to a crash barrier, swaying erratically with each passing lorry.

Our lives are so much more than when, where and how we died. I don't even remember anniversaries of family members who have died - I prefer to remember their birthdays or think of them at Christmas. I find it sad that a death has to define a life.

I have no experience of losing a loved one in such a violent way but as a family and friends we mark my nephews passing regularly. He is buried in a baby garden which is well kept and tended to. His toys and trinkets are changed regularly to reflect the seasons, holidays, birthday etc... We also release balloons at memorable times with personal messages attatched.

SGB I'm not sure if you would agree with how my family has chosen to remember a loved one but I think the way you have expressed your point of view on such a sensitive thread is deeply offensive. The 'appalling poetry* that you talk about is often deeply personal and meaningful to the family or deceased and your opinion of its penmanship is completely irrelavant. Grief is a personal set of emotions in which we should be allowed to deal with in our own way and if that results in a 'shrine' than so be it, similarly I won't judge you for not creating one.

Ok here's my 2p worth. I'm sorry to upset anybody so I apologise in advance and please don't read if you are easily upset.

I used to live abroad, was on my way back from the nightlife to my little town in a taxi, when we were overtaken by a scrambler motorbike. Half a second later there were sparks everwhere and the bike was spinning in circles whilst travelling down the road. The rider was thrown off instantly. My friends and I had to shout at the driver to stop, we ran out of the taxi, did CPR on him, held his band, mopped the blood, rang doctors, ambulances, resort managers and everybody we could think of for help, and another taxi passed with a british nurse who happened to be on holiday there. She jumped out to help and sadly pronounced him dead. Then his friends who'd been riding with him roared up on their scramblers and all started screaming at seeing his body.
It was literally one of the worst nights and sights of my life.

So my thoughts on this subject are - leave the memorials up. If it will save a life or make someone think "what happened there?" and maybe slow down or even wear a motorbike helmet.

I once had to attend a fatal accident (as police photographer) where an elderly lady with very bad eyesight, who refused to wear her glasses, stepped out into the path of a motorbike. The biker was driving correctly and was only doing about 20mph (he'd just set off from traffic lights), but had no way of avoiding her. He was completely distraught at what he'd done.
The lady's husband set up a shrine to her and kept it there for about 3 years (until he died). Whenever I saw it I always felt sorry for the biker who had to pass it every day on his way to work.

Yes thumbwitch I was and am appalled by it. It makes a visiting a distressing as well as a sad experience. I have spoken to lots of 'official' people about it and they are all in agreement with me, but feel they can't enforce even the most common sense rules.

It is hideous and it makes me furious. I wish I hadn't chosen that place.

RT you have totally misconstrued my post, and your interpretation is totally inaccurate.

Please don't try and look for hurful things that have not been said. I am not going to repeat what I said as if you are determined to find something hurtful in it, you will.