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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2003
Our View
No crosses? WOT to bar roadside memorials
The Virginia Department of Transportation shows surprising disrespect for Virginians, living and recently killed, with its proposal to prohibit spontaneous roadside memorials to friends and relatives recently killed on Virginia highways. Instead. VDOT says it will offer to erect and maintain for twro years, then remove, a statedesigned marker that will read “Drive safely, in memory of..." Erecting signs in rights-of-way has always been illegal, but VDOT has wisely left alone the spontaneous roadside displays in memory of persons killed in auto accidents — until now. Wind, weather and trash cleanup crews deal with the perishable elements of such displays, while more permanent markers — often including small white crosses — offer more than an enduring memorial to a lost loved one. They also offer a continuing reminder to motorists to drive safely because someone else has recently been killed on that particular roadway. The bureaucratic process that VDOT proposes will take weeks to install.
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