Street Race Memorials Removed - News Story - WRC | Washington

Street racing is illegal correct?

Yep... It's illegal. Interesting... If a bunch of guys died while watching Michael Vick's dog fighting shows, no one would put up a memorial. These guys are ALSO doing something illegal and they are pressing to get a memorial put up. Look people, they were out there perpetuating a crime and something that is ILLEGAL. They F-up the roads for normal drivers who will now have to deal with speed cameras and watching for 61 year old children int he middle of the road. How you make it that long doing dumb stuff like that is a mystery to me.

That is so rude! Why would they do something like that?....Coming up with some lame excuse like they have to remove things that distract drivers.......whatever! There are so many of them around where I live I don't see them removing those.........I say keep replacing them!

Why would anyone want to commemorate stupidity? Seriously. Who stands in the middle of a highway in the middle of the night? Kudos for the department for having them removed!

I agree with the SHA. Let the families put their memorials on the grave sites of their relatives. Hundreds die at hospitals every year and you don't see permanent memorials erected on their property.

While the event was tragic and my condolences go out to the families, we should not memorialize people who were participating in something ILLEGAL! It is illegal for a reason and people need to abide by the laws not break them, they are usually there for a reason.

i think they should be removed and NO permenant memorial erected...i feel sorry they were killed but they were participating in an illegal activity... so now do we erect shrine for such actions.

the families were standing in the middle of the road the day after mourning the loved ones like they didnt learn :shakehead:
props to sha for doing what they did

I am very sorry that people have lost thier lives in this tragic accident. Erecting a memorial for people that were watching an illegal activity is beyond comprehension. We should not condone illegal activity. If they were not out in the middle of the night and in bed as others were, they may not have perished.

I am sorry for the loss of life but we cannot memorialize poor behavior.

Too bad the "victims" did not remove themselves from the roadway. They might still be here today.

First of all, the other driver "plowed into the crowd", how about, he was innocently driving down the road when he was blinded by the smoke from an ILLEGAL activity. He is going to have to live with this the rest of his life... that's a tragedy. My heart goes out to the people who lost loved ones, but those loved ones chose to be there witnessing this event.... this accident occurred on a very dark stretch of road, the victims were in the road. Who would have the expectation that standing on a highway is safe?? They made a very bad deadly choice, but none of them were there involuntarily. Let's have a little perspective in reporting.

As a commuter who passes the site everyday I am glad SHA is removing the memorials. They do cause traffic to slow and sometimes nearly stop in the middle of the road endangering anyone driving through.

One more thing, I hope the SHA also removes the crime scene paint from the scene... that is much more distracting than the memorials. Everyone slows way down when they get to the site. Perhaps the family members/friends can reach a compromise with the SHA? Instead of having numerous memorials on both sides of the road, maybe consolidate into one closer to the access road? And, the people who visit the memorials need to pay attention to whether they are on the roadway... I'm sure their family members don't want to have to mourn them as well!! I commute along this stretch every day and have witnessed at least 3 people crossing to the median memorials without any regard for traffic. You do have to stop, look and listen before crossing the street.

why would you put up a memorial for people who were killed while taking part in something very illeagal and not to mention unsafe. instead of wasting your money on makeshift memorials use it to educate your friends and family members on doing things the right way like watching races from the stands at a legal race track

A memorial for the remembrance of stupidity. How about a nice granite statue of a crown vic plowing into a crowd of fools.

There is a proper place to honor these idiots who efficiently removed themselves from the human gene pool. It is the Darwin Awards. www.darwinawards.com .

Guess what, that is state propoerty. You can't erect freaking monuments wherever the *&^% you want.

While I appreciate the families' desire to have their loved ones deaths memorialized, the fact is that the memorials create a distraction which could cause other drivers to not pay attention to the road, resulting in other accidents. In addition, while their deaths were tragic, they WERE participating in an illegal event, albeit as observers. Had the races been conducted in legal venues, then most likely this tragedy would not have occurred. We, as adults, should be sending a message to our youth, on the tragic consequences of what can happen when you participate in illegal activities.

I'm sorry, but I totally agree with the State mandate that these "roadside" memorials be removed. While they may be a remembrance for relatives and friends, they are detremental to other drivers who take their eyes off the road to look.

Many years ago I was in a car that got hit by a drunk driver and 2 of my best friends were killed. I didn't think roadside memorials were necessary then, and I still feel that way.

Demand that taxpayers should have to pay for a permanent memorial because your loved one and 7 other idiots got killed while being involved in something illegal? Where do you people get off with this garbage? What's next, memorials for serial killers?