BGSU's Own Jeff Gordon

[UK Peregrine]

I had to mention this article because it brings up an old prof of mine, Jeff Gordon, from my undergraduate years at BG. He wasn't one of my best professors, but he did have a name that was memorable. Dr. Gordon was a decent professor from what I can remember, but unfortunetly I was already thinking biology all of the way and Cultural Geography was the last class I wanted to be sitting through.

Researchers urge sensitivity to memorials along roadsides

By MEGAN GREENWELL

They appear suddenly along streets and highways: white crosses decorated with flowers, teddy bears, and other mementos to loved ones lost. And despite laws and transportation department policies prohibiting them, two local researchers want to make sure that grieving families can continue to create these roadside memorials to vehicle crash victims.

Jeff Gordon, a Bowling Green State University geography professor, and Toledo psychologist Esther Beckmann are the co-authors of a new study that details the importance of roadside memorials as a coping mechanism and a public service. Their article, published in the latest issue of the American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences Journal, calls for more "sensitive examination by department of transportation officials" before removing such tributes. "There should be a dialogue between the transportation department and families who have lost someone," said Ms. Beckmann, who has a doctorate in psychology and operates a private practice in Toledo. "The problem is that people will drive by the intersection where they lost someone and see their memorial gone."

Many state transportation departments have outlawed roadside memorials or regulated their construction because of safety concerns. Section 5515.02 of the Ohio Revised Code says that any obstacle in the public right-of-way should be removed in the course of normal maintenance operations. Roadside memorials can distract other drivers and prove a hazard to state workers mowing the grass on the side of the highway, according to Joe Rutherford, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation's district office. "Our concern is the safety of the driving public," said Mr. Rutherford, who was cited in the journal article. "We try to show some sensitivity and good judgment, but the code is pretty clear: no hazards, no obstacles, no advertising."

Mr. Gordon and Ms. Beckmann said they recognize potential hazards involved in the creation of roadside memorials, but added that transportation officials must be more accommodating of people who have lost a family member or friend. Their study found that creating memorials allows for a public expression of grief that is an important part of the healing process. Mr. Gordon contrasted roadside memorials with traditional cemeteries, saying that many families do not think a gravestone is a sufficient testament to the legacy of someone who dies suddenly. Creating a public tribute can help families by making the identity of the victim accessible to anyone who drives by. "You're going to this horrible site and trying to fix it in some small way," Mr. Gordon said. "It helps in the form of catharsis."

Furthermore, the researchers found, many people take comfort in knowing that a memorial may remind other drivers to take special caution near the site where someone else was killed. The act of building a roadside memorial "may provide survivors with a method of taking action resulting in a less dangerous environment," they wrote.

But Mr. Rutherford said that a memorial alongside the highway may actually have the opposite effect. "First of all, just because someone died there doesn't mean it's a dangerous stretch of road," he said. "But let's say it is. Then you want to put up a distraction there? That will make the situation worse."

Ms. Beckmann said that she often meets with people grieving the loss of a family member but she does not explicitly recommend that they create a roadside memorial. Instead, she suggests creating some public tribute, such as planting a tree near the site of a tragedy. According to Mr. Gordon, some state governments will plant trees on behalf of people who have lost a family member in a car crash.

Mr. Rutherford said that "in an appropriate situation," his department would consider planting trees for families. Oftentimes, he said, intersections or particular stretches of highway are not suitable for planting trees because there are too many buildings or other plants. The best solution, Mr. Rutherford said, is for families to ask for a property owner's permission to construct a memorial on private land instead of along the roadway. He said he often suggests that alternative to people who are upset that their memorials have been torn down.

Mr. Gordon and Ms. Beckmann said that because roadside memorials are a relatively recent phenomenon, departments of transportation must more fully recognize the importance of families' public tributes before telling maintenance workers to remove them. "Due to the very sensitive nature, people and government are going to have to understand each other better," Mr. Gordon said. "Both sides have legitimate concerns. They need to communicate."

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... /505300320

[SaxyIrishTenor]

The man is an idiot. Plain and simple. Possibly the worst prof I've had.

[It's the Journey...]

I second that!!!!!

[UK Peregrine]

The man is an idiot. Plain and simple. Possibly the worst prof I've had.

A little harsher than I would have put it, but after reading this article I wouldn't argue with you. Like I said, I couldn't remember a whole lot about him, just his name and the class I had with him. That's usually a pretty bad sign. I tend to block out the really bad one's. Perhaps that's why I don't remember much of the class.

[PresBG]

Prof. Jeff Gordon needs to hang it up and go home. I had 2 classes with him...one of which was with SaxyIrish...so I definitely agree...the man is an idiot.

[Tech83]

I never had this professor nor did I have to take alot of the soft sciences.... but I find the article interesting from a public art view point. The memorials seem like graffaitti art. Illegal, but becoming part of our culture.

The memorials really aren't that strong of a distraction, but certainly invoke a feeling from the viewer. Nor are they really a hazard to drivers... certainly a hazard for the people setting up the memorial..... I don't buy the whole get touchy/feely position of the two researchers where the state should contact the familys before they remove the memorial.

In Greece, the roadside is spotted with memorial/shrines about the size of a mail box with a cross and so on. Due to the Greeks being horrible drivers, they are about every 50 ft. . But interesting.

Thats the opinion of an architect interested in public art. And yes Saxy..... the mirrored lawn balls you see in Parma may be considered public art - of the lowest order of course I would imagine there is a law about mirrored lawn balls in North O.

[Dayons_Den]

I think it is disturbing and somewhat disgusting to put those crosses/memorials up at a point where someone has passed away. Imagine if people did that where-ever someone died? You get a new hotel room at the Sheraton and there is a plaque for Joe Schmow who overdosed in the bathtub in 1994. nasty. I don't want to know where people have died.

If it was a natural disaster or accident, maybe.

I guess this just goes along with my recent feeling that cemeteries are nasty and I could do without all those rotting corpses in the ground near each other. . . .

[UK Peregrine]

That reminds me, I don't recall the comedian's name that talked about these roadside memorials, but the bit he did was hilarious. The big jokes went something like this.

Why is it that you always see crosses on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, like in Kansas on some straight ass road that doesnt have a single tree in sight? I mean, what in the hell did this person do to reck in a place with nothing to hit?

Also, why is it that you only see crosses on the side of the road? Why not stars of David or Buddhas? WTF, is it that Christians are just that bad of drivers compared to the rest of the world's major religions?

[golfertk14]

Joe Schmow

I think it's Joe Shmow