Althouse: "A Virginia woman was struck and killed while taking flowers to a roadside memorial for her granddaughter..."

November 30, 2009

"A Virginia woman was struck and killed while taking flowers to a roadside memorial for her granddaughter..."

"... who died in a crash at the same spot a week ago."

27 comments:

traditionalguy said...: This is not a good spot for walking around.Will her death now attract the rest of the family next week? Very sad stuff to hear about.; 11/30/09, 7:17 PM
vbspurs said...: This is almost as ironic as Tiger Woods getting beaten up with a golf club (or Rihanna with an umbrella).

Of course, it's tragic. But funny tragic. RIP.

Cheers,
Victoria; 11/30/09, 7:23 PM
veni vidi vici said...: Reminds me of that fairy tale, "The Little Match Girl", for some odd reason.; 11/30/09, 7:32 PM
Peter Hoh said...: This is why highway departments don't like roadside memorials.; 11/30/09, 7:36 PM
Unknown said...: vbspurs said...

Of course, it's tragic. But funny tragic. RIP.

Not so funny. Gotta call you on this one, Vic.; 11/30/09, 7:51 PM
chuck b. said...: I also snickered inappropriately.; 11/30/09, 7:53 PM
blake said...: It's horrible.

There's an object lesson here about the consequences of sentimentality overwhelming objective reality, I think.; 11/30/09, 8:15 PM
Lindsey said...: Holy cow. I grew up there. Know exactly where that is.

"He says Danielle cheated death six years go, when she and a friend were driving down to Florida on I-95. A drunk driver cut them off and the car she was in went down a 40-foot embankment, slammed into a tree, and Danielle's friend was killed."

http://www.wtvr.com/news/wtvr-brother-speaks,0,5864846.story; 11/30/09, 8:15 PM
JohnAnnArbor said...: Looks like the granddaughter ran a red light and was a known drunk driver.

I always wonder about those memorials you see, especially on freeway guardrails, etc. Dangerous.; 11/30/09, 8:17 PM
JohnAnnArbor said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/30/09, 8:23 PM
Jen said...: Life is much much too short. Get yourself a Beemer (or an Audi) and drive very far, fast, and safely.; 11/30/09, 8:29 PM
Joe said...: Roadside memorials are idiotic anyway. Let's lay wreathes at every spot where one of the billions of people who ever lived died. Oh and declare it hallowed land where we can't do anything. There may be some land in Arizona we can all crowd into (but, by definition, that won't last.); 11/30/09, 8:32 PM
Fred4Pres said...: I am sorry for that family's loss. That is very sad.; 11/30/09, 8:34 PM
vbspurs said...: Not so funny. Gotta call you on this one, Vic.

Fully deserve it, Edutcher. Call away.

Cheers,
Victoria; 11/30/09, 8:39 PM
Lindsey said...: Due to the criminally insane laws in VA, I would bet $ she did not pull over as this would have been her third DUI aka a felony aka mandatory jail time.; 11/30/09, 9:07 PM
JohnAnnArbor said...: Someone with three DUIs should be in jail.; 11/30/09, 9:25 PM
kimsch said...: Roadside memorials are distractions and dangerous. Just because somebody died there doesn't mean they're staying there. Even if one doesn't believe in Heaven or an afterlife, the body will still be buried (or ashes kept or cast away) elsewhere.

It always saddens me to see perfectly good Teddy Bears and other stuffed animals rotting in the rain at roadside memorials when those same toys could be given to children in hospitals or to the police to give to children in need.; 11/30/09, 9:30 PM
KCFleming said...: Irony?
Tragedy?
Kismet?
Senseless?
Darkly funny?
Twilight Zoney?; 11/30/09, 9:30 PM
Andrea said...: I'm sorry, but now you know why they are called "tardshrines."

Yes, that was tasteless, wrong, and non-pc, and I'm quite proud of it. (For the record, I'd like my roadside shrine to be comprised, not of a tacky wooden cross with teddy bears and dollar store plastic flowers, but of a goat skull surmounting an ax with an accompanying iron cauldron full of gummy bears and empty whiskey bottles.); 11/30/09, 9:38 PM
Palladian said...: "For the record, I'd like my roadside shrine to be comprised, not of a tacky wooden cross with teddy bears and dollar store plastic flowers, but of a goat skull surmounting an ax with an accompanying iron cauldron full of gummy bears and empty whiskey bottles."

Soggy, sodden teddy bears are the perfect modern memento mori.

Quod tu es, ego fui, quod ego sum, tu eris...; 11/30/09, 10:05 PM
JohnAnnArbor said...: There's a bicycle, painted white, chained to a road sign near me as a memorial to a cyclist who got killed there.

Better than most memorials.; 11/30/09, 10:10 PM
Alex said...: Roadside memorials should be banned as littering. Besides once a person is dead, they're just maggot food. Celebrate the living!; 11/30/09, 10:13 PM
bagoh20 said...: One near my home has been continuously maintained for over 10 years. I like them.; 11/30/09, 10:49 PM
Daniel Fielding said...: JohnAnnArbor- that "Ghost Bicycle" is in memory of my friend Tim Pinchowski who was killed near that spot on August 28th. He was hit by a 2 yr old driver, who was messing with the radio,and not watching where he was driving, or who was on the road ahead of him; 12/1/09, 7:43 AM
raf said...: A clear case of an activity which should be federalized. A standard marker should be installed at each point on a highway where a fatal accident occurs to properly alert drivers to objectively hazardous areas. Adding teddy bears would be forbidden as a form of vandalism.

Then, perhaps, a different kind of marker can designate less-than-fatal accident sites, places where cars have been pulled over for traffic violations, and other very useful and informative stuff.; 12/1/09, 9:31 AM
Daniel Fielding said...: in my previous post, I should have typed, "20yr old driver", not "2 yr old driver". sorry for th etypo.; 12/1/09, 11:19 AM
JackOfClubs said...: If there are two fatalities next week, that will be ironic. After that the Ironator will have to decide whether he wants to settle for simple doubling or go all Fibonacci on us.; 12/1/09, 2:43 PM