EDITORIAL – Roadside memorials shouldn’t have too many rules

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

ROADSIDE MEMORIALS have long been a subject of controversy. They come in various forms and designs but have in common a desire by family and friends to memorialize a loved one fatally injured in a motor vehicle accident.

Common forms include posters, crosses, wreaths and plastic flowers, sometimes attached to telephone poles, sometimes installed on their own on highway rights of way.

The trouble with roadside memorials is that they can become unsightly, especially if they aren’t properly maintained by those who erect them. They can endure for years, gradually deteriorating until they’re removed by human hands or the elements.

The City of Kamloops has a new roadside memorial policy that doesn’t differ much from past practice but formalizes a process for dealing with them that is both clear and compassionate.

It notes that roadside memorials have the potential to present safety hazards, encroach onto sidewalks or paved surfaces, create challenges for construction or cause sightline obstructions or significant distractions.

The policy authorizes City personnel to remove the memorials if they cause such problems but requires that they first try to contact those who created them. That won’t always be easy but it’s a caring approach.

When the issue came in front of City council, Coun. Stephen Karpuk wondered about creating additional policy around “form and character” of roadside memorials. In other words, require that they conform to acceptable design standards.

Fortunately, his inquiry was basically brushed off by staff. Imagine requiring grieving family and friends to submit a permit application to erect a roadside memorial, along with a proposed design that would have to be approved under some vague set of criteria. Imagine these permit applications getting lost in the bureaucratic process.

Roadside memorials can be problematic but trying to over-regulate them is no answer. City operations staff have found the right compromise between continuing to allow them, while at the same time removing them only when absolutely necessary.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.