A roadside memorials policy

I have two points:

– roadside memorials aren’t always to the Mully Williams of this world. Some (many) of them are set up by grieving parents. Most are quite unobtrusive and if they distract you, then…you are too easily distracted.

– the RiotAct obsession with detecting Boganism on every corner has a distinct Hyacinth Bouquet flavour to it. People are often obsessed with the things they doubt most in themselves.

p1 said :

That or a Viking funeral. Load them in the back of a commodore ute, and push them across the border into Queanbeyan.

+1 😀

p1 said :

That or a Viking funeral. Load them in the back of a commodore ute, and push them across the border into Queanbeyan.

I assume the ute would be set alight before shunting it across the border? I mean, I know it would be set alight afterwards, but it be kinda poignant to get in first.

troll-sniffer said :

Roadside memorials are bogan. No doubt about it, but I think someone in the ANU School of Inconsequential Studies needs to do a PhD on why they feel the need to publicly flaunt what is really a very private matter.

Didn’t you know? ANU academic Peter Read I think has already published papers on exact same …

I saw a young lad with RIP sticker on the back window and he was driving like he intended catching his mate. A beautiful irony.

A hell of a lot of “facilitation” going on there. Consultants who dabble in that vacuous practice will be doubt be happy.

dajala said :

Rollersk8r, I’m against roadside memorials for much the same reasons.

However, I wouldn’t object to a large billboard positioned on each site with a photo of the deceased person that stated something along the lines of “I died here because I was an asshat who was drink driving/speeding/talking on my mobile” Don’t be like me.”

Roadside memorials generally celebrate the lives of people who died while putting the lives of other responsible individuals at risk. I don’t think you should be able to glorify the existence of a person if they died drink driving, speeding. etc.

I think Canberra has way more than its fair share of reminders – speed cameras (and vans), cryptic road signs – and new improved road signs that call us idiots…

wow. I had no idea that these things upset people so much. Personally I think they are no big deal. Like DTC @ #22 I think they serve as a good reminder about road safety. I know whenever I drive past one the first thing I do is look at my speedo.

Of course, not everyone who dies on the road died because it was their fault. So all the comments about ‘dying because i was an asshat’ or ‘I am a bogan’ are both insentive and wrong for at least a proportion of people.

Whenever I see a memorial my first thought is ‘how could someone die here?’ and my second thought is ‘goes to show that you can die anywhere driving a car’. I think its a very effective road safety reminder.

And just because y’all come from cultures that don’t emote publically and think death is a personal matter (except when Diana died), its not the same for everyone.

That said, a small cross or some flowers is much more appropriate than a mag wheel etc etc.

I dont get the whole roadside memorial thing that has taken off over the last few years. I understood that Governments and councils liked it at one stage because it served to remind the rest of us of what can happen….

But as a memorial to a loved one? I would rather remember a loved ones life and memorialise their death.

Pommy bastard said :

Clown Killer said :

Would this include removing anything that commemorated the existence of a worm like Mully Williams?

Well public toilet doors getting a lick of paint isn’t a bad thing…

The toilet door got painted over pretty quickly (I think the thread about Mully was still going strong). Some of the other “tributes” are still there however.

dajala said :

However, I wouldn’t object to a large billboard positioned on each site with a photo of the deceased person that stated something along the lines of “I died here because I was an asshat who was drink driving/speeding/talking on my mobile” Don’t be like me.”

+1

At least then their lives would have had some meaning.

Clown Killer said :

Would this include removing anything that commemorated the existence of a worm like Mully Williams?

Well public toilet doors getting a lick of paint isn’t a bad thing…

Rollersk8r said :

I’m completely against roadside memorials. There is a place especially for memorial sites, rememberance and grieving – it’s called a cemetery.

We could save some money if all future Mullys are buried where they fall.

That or a Viking funeral. Load them in the back of a commodore ute, and push them across the border into Queanbeyan.

I can’t say I’ve ever minded roadside memorials. Sure some of them are entirely over the top, but generally I think they’re quite effective as reminder about safe driving, particularly on windy country roads.

Rollersk8r said :

I’m completely against roadside memorials. There is a place especially for memorial sites, rememberance and grieving – it’s called a cemetery. I’ve had a couple of family members die unexpectedly, including my uncle of a heart attack at the gym, but nobody felt the need the place flowers or get a plaque made up for the site of their passing.

while i don’t disagree with your sentiment i also see a valid point that indications at the place on the road system where a fatality has occurred isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as a pertinent indicator to other road users of the possible consquences of cutting in, tailgating and being mully, etc… maybe some standard rta-approved (or whatever the equivalent here is) object..? maybe the chiefly stand-hopeful can commission some creative public art to be the single approved device?

Rollersk8r, I’m against roadside memorials for much the same reasons.

However, I wouldn’t object to a large billboard positioned on each site with a photo of the deceased person that stated something along the lines of “I died here because I was an asshat who was drink driving/speeding/talking on my mobile” Don’t be like me.”

Roadside memorials generally celebrate the lives of people who died while putting the lives of other responsible individuals at risk. I don’t think you should be able to glorify the existence of a person if they died drink driving, speeding. etc.

I’m completely against roadside memorials. There is a place especially for memorial sites, rememberance and grieving – it’s called a cemetery. I’ve had a couple of family members die unexpectedly, including my uncle of a heart attack at the gym, but nobody felt the need the place flowers or get a plaque made up for the site of their passing.

-small structures no greater than 1.0m high, comprising timber; stone; concrete or metal installed in a manner that does not pose any safety hazard to the public in the views of Roads ACT.
– Covering an area of no more than 4 square metres.

Jesus.
Have these people never heard of the Foundation Myth of Carthage?

Dido fled Tyre and eventually arrived in northeastern Tunisia. She sought land to establish a base, but finding that negotiations were not to her advantage, she reportedly played on the innocence of the local people by asking for a piece of land that was big enough to be enclosed by the edges of an ox hide. Thinking that this would be very small, the locals agreed. Then Elissa cut it into narrow strips, laid them end-to-end and formed a huge circle. She had created enough land inside the perimeter of the ox hide to build a city, and that city, which she named Carthage, was to become one of the most influential in the entire Mediterranean region for almost 700 years.

troll-sniffer said :

Roadside memorials are bogan. No doubt about it, but I think someone in the ANU School of Inconsequential Studies needs to do a PhD on why they feel the need to publicly flaunt what is really a very private matter.

I think TBL would see it as the bogan’s need to somehow make up for the deceased bogan having never appeared on Family Fortune or Wheel of Feud etc. It is after all a bogan’s birthright to appear on trash TV at least once in their empty lives, and those who miss out must be compensated, and what better way than to trivialise the family’s self-absorbed grieving than setting up a permanent visible reminder of the futility of their bogan existence?

When I go I want to be remembered by famuily and friends for what I meant to them personally, not what they seek to advertise in a public place.

I’ve been pondering the same thing since I noticed a few giant “RIP Megan” and “RIP Mick” stickers on the back windows of various utes & Commodores around Canberra. Is it their way of bragging “I know a dead person, I’m a hard c**t”?

Is anyone else of the opinion that (along with minorities) lower class/bogan types are beyond reproach? It seemingly isn’t acceptable to say “no” to these people, hence the need for drawn out and expensive bureaucratic measure such as this.

Roadside memorials are bogan. No doubt about it, but I think someone in the ANU School of Inconsequential Studies needs to do a PhD on why they feel the need to publicly flaunt what is really a very private matter.

I think TBL would see it as the bogan’s need to somehow make up for the deceased bogan having never appeared on Family Fortune or Wheel of Feud etc. It is after all a bogan’s birthright to appear on trash TV at least once in their empty lives, and those who miss out must be compensated, and what better way than to trivialise the family’s self-absorbed grieving than setting up a permanent visible reminder of the futility of their bogan existence?

When I go I want to be remembered by famuily and friends for what I meant to them personally, not what they seek to advertise in a public place.

Four square metres is pretty big. I propose a 2x2x1m stone monolith for my memorial when I go out in a fiery traffic accident. With a mag wheel embedded in it.

I’m waiting for someone to set up a hide near one of these roadside memorials, so that people can safely observe bogans conducting their rites, without fear of being pelted by empty RTD cans and half-eaten big macs.

Not before time … there is a very small number of well-maintained memorials out there … and a truckload of dead, dried-up brown flowers taped to signposts. And a mag nailed to a tree – classy. Seems to sum up the calibre of individual playing this game.

Hmm, I notice the other day that the Mully memorial has gained some sort of stone / concrete wheel. What’s the deal with that?

I call dibs on the mag wheel.

This doesn’t specifically address the use of Woodstock Burbon in such memorials.

The ACT Government will also remove any signs or other fixtures that is considers insensitive or offensive

Would this include removing anything that commemorated the existence of a worm like Mully Williams?

I thought bogans were using Facebook for their memorials nowadays. Oh no, hold on – the bogans are the ones defacing other memorial sites.