Roadside memorial itself claims a life

Jul 10, 2009, 6:32 GMT

   Sydney - A mass of floral tributes piled up where four teenagers were killed in a car crash in Melbourne two weeks ago probably claimed the life of another motorist, Australian police said Friday.

   Police said the 21-year-old woman, distracted by the massive roadside memorial, had not seen the truck that ploughed into her.

   'We suspect that the amount of tributes and everything that have been put up at the intersection has distracted the deceased driver and she's pulled into the path of the truck,' Inspector Jeff Smith said.

   He blamed the flowers, toys, photographs, poems and graffiti that had accrued over the past two weeks for Friday's death.

   'You shouldn't really be allowed to walk up to an intersection and start piling up distractions,' Smith said. 'There were people's faces on every pole, there was teddy bears, there was toys.'

   Debate has raged over roadside memorials for crash victims. Some authorities do not remove them, arguing that they serve as a powerful antidote to dangerous driving.

   Some authorities remove them, claiming either that the shrines are a distraction or that people should keep their grief private rather than force others to share it.

   Smith defended his decision to remove the tributes.

   'It goes past being a roadside memorial when there's graffiti all over the road,' Smith said in response to a public outcry over what some claimed was a callous act by police. 'We did what we had to do.'