A year after Sept. 11, Americans are still debating the appropriate way to grieve private loss in public. As thousands in New York City reflect Wednesday on last year’s tragedy with flowers, candles, photos and poems, small town lawmakers on the other side of the country will have decided whether impromptu memorials to those killed in local car crashes should be allowed to stand at all.
Monday, the Marysville City Council will vote on an ordinance to give families of auto accident victims a 30-day window to put up roadside memorials in honor of their loved ones within Marysville city limits.
Those critical of the proposed ordinance wonder if unexpected "debris" in the public right-of-way along Marysville roads will constitute a safety hazard — cars that need to pull off the road in emergencies need the right-of-way, and candles set out alongside the road may start a fire.
Meanwhile, others are outraged that the city council would try to impose an official 30-day limit on grief that, for families and friends of accident victims, will last a lifetime. The wilting flowers and fading photographs that often appear at accident sites may become unsightly with time, but in a time of national mourning, it’s hard to tell anyone who has lost a loved one that they should "just move on."
Washington state does not officially permit the erection of public roadside memorials, unless they are purchased from the state and commemorate a death related to drunk driving (as of yet, Washington has no program to commemorate people killed in other kinds of crashes).
However, these formal markers, which cost about $500, can place an additional financial burden on families already coping with the loss of a loved one and the stress of funeral arrangements. The white signs that line dangerous roads like Marine Drive are a chilling and effective reminder of the dangers posed by alcohol.
Erecting a spontaneous memorial is a more immediate, personal way to commemorate the death of a loved one, and it is for this reason that law enforcement officers are usually sensitive enough to overlook them for a little while.
Most people, even those who condemn roadside memorials as "tacky" or "dangerous," can tolerate their presence for 30 days. And those who wish that the memorials could be left up indefinitely can at least take comfort in the fact that they aren’t going to be taken down right away.
Marysville’s ordinance will provide a much-needed outlet for the loved ones of victims to express their grief in the way that they choose, whether the person was killed in an alcohol-related accident or not. It will also provide a realistic yet sensitive way to reconcile the need to express personal grief with the need to maintain an orderly, hazard-free city.
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