Roadside Memorials free essay sample

Roadside Memorials The issue Is roadside memorials and whether they should be allowed on the side of the road or not. There Is a large controversy over roadside memorials because some people believe they are distracting and should be illegal altogether because they have caused car accidents that result in more deaths. Others believe that people deserve the right to express their grief In any form. This issue had become problematic because the amount of roadside memorials in increasing. Roadside memorials should be illegal because they are a enormous distraction to drivers and . One reason that roadside memorials should be illegal is that they are a distraction for drivers. It Is very Important for a driver to keep their eyes on the road while driving and seeing a roadside memorial can distract the driver and cause them to take their eyes off the road. This can cause a car crash and result in even more deaths. In the article Education of Oregon police roadside memorial near Albany leads to crash, Tom Hellman Jar. Tastes that two vehicles collided along Interstate 5, the drivers apparently distracted by a crowd of more than 100 people who gathered o honor three officers hit by a car at the same location 10 years ago. (Peg. 1) This proves that roadside memorials are distracting because the drivers were distracted and got into an accident. Roadside memorials arent worth another death. One reason that they are a distraction is that people slow down to see what they say or who died. In the same article, Tom Hellman Jar. States that A pickup truck slowed. A station wagon following didnt. People stopping to look at the memorial caused the accident. If the memorial was not placed on the side of the road then the accident would never have happened. In the same article, Dave Thompson Is quoted and he said, Anything that distracts you from driving can be dangerous, (Par, 17). This is very true because drivers get distracted very easily. As a driver you are taught to keep your eyes on the road and not become distracted by other things. Another reason that roadside memorials should be illegal Is that they are littering. In the article, Should roadside memorials be considered littering? It states that At their worst these memorials are indeed litter while at their best they are mere eyesores. When people leave trash on the side to the road they can get tinned. Why are people not fined for leaving memorials on the roadside? They are basically the same concepts. In another article. Rants about roadside memorials. It states that what is placed on the memorials is littering, piles of artificial flowers, hand-made signs, tattered moldy teddy bears. These memorials will not stay in one place forever. If it rains or there Is a windstorm the memorial will be destroyed and pieces of it will be littered everywhere. In the article. Should roadside memorials be illegal, It states that. Then, after some time of neglect, these memorials fall into various states of disrepair ND then they really become an eyesore. (Par. 4) Most families do not come back to clean up the memorials so it makes an even bigger mess ove r time. Littering Is illegal so roadside memorials should be illegal as well. The last reason roadside memorials should be illegal is that most memorials Include a cross and that should not be allowed. In an article from the New York tofu constitutional principle of separation of church and state Crosses are religious symbols and the sides of a highway are public property. Placing a cross on the side of a road is illegal. Churches are allowed to have crosses on their buildings because hey pay for their land. In the Article, Should Roadside memorials be considered littering, it states that society has created a place for memorials upon the passing of a loved one. You may have heard of them: cemeteries. (Par. 2) people should not be forbidden of their right to grief they should be forbidden to express their grief on roadways. There are many other ways to grief in cemeteries. In the same article, it also states that. Cemeteries allow you the opportunity to be as tacky as you like. (Par. 3) there are no restrictions as to what you can place by a gravestone. And there s also no limit to how often you can visit the cemetery. These are all benefits that a roadside memorial does not provide. Death is like the popping or deflating of a balloon. A person is born and throughout their life, they grow and become bigger. Balloons start out really little and then they are inflated and they grow larger. Once a person reaches a certain age, they start to get old and they start to wrinkle and shrink. Balloons can only float around for a certain length of time. After a while they start to shrink and float down to the ground. When a person dies they breathe one sat breath and then everything in them is gone. They are gone and will not be coming back. When a balloon completely deflates it is shrunk down to its original size and no longer floats. All that is left is a wrinkly balloon with nothing inside of it. The deflation of a balloon is a very good analogy for death because it goes through the stages of life and death like a person does. Another way balloons can relate to death is with sudden deaths. Sometimes balloons pop randomly when you least expect it. Sometimes people have heart attacks or other issues that cause them to die unexpectedly. Another way a balloon symbolizes death is when it is popped. The balloon can be full of air and perfectly fine, but someone comes along and pops the balloon and then the balloon is gone forever in a split second. This symbolizes murdering a person. A person can be completely fine one day and someone comes and murders them for no apparent reason and they are suddenly gone. A balloon is a good analogy for life and death for many reasons. The argument of the opposite side is that everyone deserves the right to grieve in whichever way they chose. They believe they have the right to freedom of speech and religion. While they do have the right to freedom of speech and religion, they do not have the right to display their beliefs on public property. Cemeteries were built for people to express their grief openly, and this should be done at a cemetery and not anywhere else. There are many reasons as to why roadside memorials should be illegal and this paper sums all of them up. They are a dangerous distraction, they are considered littering, and they violate the constitution by violating the separation of church and state. Roadside memorials should be illegal because they are not appropriate ways of grieving, and they are very dangerous.