I passed a few flower markers this morning and it got me thinking about why ,and what type of people do this.
I understand that people approach grieving in different ways,so maybe it’s just me,but I would never leave any marking at a site where someone I really cared about had died or been injured.
BTW These were not on any sort of accident black spot,just open bits of clear road.

I suppose you could think of it as general activism against shit driving rather than a personal memorial. Like those ghost-bikes (do we still get them ?)

This sort of thing?

Yup.
It’s more that,if I knew the person and what happened,I would be able to remember them ,and where it happened ,without a need to mark it in any way.

I think we’ve got the Princess Di griefathon and similar events to thank for some of the trend to more OTT public displays (though Marc Bolan’s tree predated her by a while). Suspect that people feel almost obliged sometimes

I agree fasthaggis, it’s not something I would do and nor would it help me. Each to their own though, and if some people find it helps them then I’ve nothing against it.

EDIT As in the deceased’s family/friends. What scaredypants is talking about re people you didn’t know, that completely baffles me.

The JMC tribute thing on Woodhead is a little bit obsessive though, isn’t it?

I’m not a fan of the flowery ones, but I think the black silhouette things they put up in France (if I remember rightly?) for a while after a serious/fatal crash are good, make you think a bit about the road you’re on.

I think that the public leaving things at a spot, is just a way of sending a visual sympathy message to families that they don’t know.

I don’t like the ghost bike thing and feel it’s a bit pointless.

Just litter. Horrible way to be remembered

i know somebody who posted loads of pictures of James Bolam RIP all over a certain tree next to a road on barnes common.
😆

I guess how people choose to grieve has nothing to do with me or anyone else whatsoever. I probably wouldn’t grieve in that same way but I have no issue with it at all, why would I? It has no bearing or impact on me at all.

Its Tony Blair and his quivering bottom lip, and …. constant…. pausing…. while ….. looking …. suitably….. solumn…. I blame for this. It gave the green light for otherwise normal people to abandon all that is great about this country and start behaving like those frightful Americans, with their dreadful emotional incontinence, and endless public blubbering.

If you’re going to have some kind of marking or memorial for the spot where somebody carked it, then it should consist of this only…..

There’s a road near us, past the old Longbridge car factory, where there are ALWAYS flowers around the same tree, for probably six or eight years. Can’t help but feel that that’s not particularly healthy.

It gave the green light for otherwise normal people to abandon all that is great about this country and start behaving like those frightful Americans, with their dreadful emotional incontinence, and endless public blubbering.

Bugger me, that’s a bit harsh! If it helps the affected and reminds some drivers, where’s the problem?

^^^^Bugger me, that’s a bit harsh! If it helps the affected and reminds some drivers, where’s the problem?

You want buggering twice?

Oh cheers! Now I’ve got to leave that double post to retain context.

Edit: It actually looks like I want to bugger myself.

I’ll leave now.

I’m not a fan of the flowery ones, but I think the black silhouette things they put up in France (if I remember rightly?) for a while after a serious/fatal crash are good, make you think a bit about the road you’re on.

In New Zealand it’s simple white crosses. It does make you think, particularly when you see big clusters of the things near sharp bends etc.

There was one on a quiet lane where I go riding, I stopped out of curiosity one day, and had a glance at one of the cards at random. “I’ll miss you Daddy…” it started (I didn’t want to read anymore after I saw that).

If it helps someone to deal with that kind of thing, I can live with the “litter” factor.

In Glasgow, every roadside shrine consists of a few flowers and then loads of either Rangers or Celtic shirts. It often seems like only Rangers or Celtic fans die tragic deaths in Glasgow.

If it helps someone to deal with that kind of thing, I can live with the “litter” factor.

Yep, they’ve lost a son / parent, which is way worse than seeing some ‘litter’ on the way to work….

In Serbia and Bosnia the roadside shrines are where people got shot.

Are the memorials to Tom Simpson and Fabio Casartelli any better/worse?

All good if it makes others more cautious. Around here they tried leaving car wrecks around, but that upset people so they put up black silhouettes, but that got out of hand with forests of black silhouettes so they took them down, and now people leave flowers which seems fine to me.

I am going to hell for this, but there is a photo of an incredibly large lady sellotaped to a lamppost on my ride home, surrounded by faded cards and dead flowers.

The thought always crosses my mind that there was no way the driver could have swerved to avoid her 🙁

Difficult issue to tackle but I think it’s more about a trend towards public displays of grief.
I’m not a fan, would never mark the passing of a loved one on the side of some skanky main road and would never like to think I’d be remembered with some dying texaco blooms covered in diesel smut.
Still, lots of people like to do it, it seems so fair enough.

How they do it in Peru and Bolivia

One of the lads in the local garage got killed on his motorbike in the village. An adjustable spanner was welded to the railings where it happened and a flower was regularly left in the jaws. I thought that was pretty fitting really.

I’ve given Mrs MTG strict instructions that if I ever die out on the road, she is to monitor the site and immediately remove any flowers she finds there and put them in the bin.