Death by the road

This roadside memorial to a motor-accident victim, Carl Matthews, is unusual, in being screwed into a tree.  The family must come back over the years to re-fix it, I suppose, as the tree expands.

The memorial is by the A523, the twisty and narrow road that runs parallel to Rudyard Lake - not a road I enjoy driving along.
Such memorials do bring home to the observer just how wasteful and pointless road-deaths are.

Remembering accident victims

The Roadpeace memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum is unique.
This is because the Arboretum (near Alrewas) was designed as a place to remember people - from soldiers to police officers - who've died in service. Yet the Roadpeace memorial, which lies quite far from the Arboretum's centre admittedly, remembers those who've died in accidents on this country's roads.

You'll often see the dove symbol (I think it's a dove) placed at sites where fatal traffic accidents have occurred.

In memoriam tree

This brass plaque, nailed into a tree by the road through Winkhill, tells its own sad story. Peter, just a teenager, died on this spot, presumably in a car accident.

I guess his family or friends must have seen this 'roadside memorial' as they are called as a special tribute; and fixed it to the tree themselves. Over the years, the bark has begun to grow again around it.

Staffordshire is no worse nor better than any other county for road accidents, but even recently, one person a week was dying on our roads, many of them youngsters.

Fatality 'shrine' at Penkridge

Near Penkridge, on the Teddesley Road, you'll see this sad 'shrine'. It's dedicated to Lesley, who died in a car accident on this spot. The piece of paper says she died in 2002, so whoever looks after this spot has never forgotten. it always has fresh flowers when I see it.

You used to see a lot of these, though few are as permanent as this one. They are sad reminders of the cost of driving.
I don't know why, but there are not many now - perhaps because the number of fatal road accidents is decreasing (?)

See: BBC - Roadside memorials to accident-victims in Staffordshire