Councillor Matthew Lock, Lead Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, said: "This is a highly sensitive issue both for families who lose a loved one and for local people living near the scene of an accident.
"This is not a decision we have taken lightly: we do not want to stop people grieving, or ban flowers at the site of accidents, but we do want to manage it more effectively for road safety reasons. This means moving away from having permanent memorial sites at the side of the road, which could be distracting for drivers and dangerous for people visiting them to get to. They can also cause difficulty and be dangerous for our highways teams when they are maintaining roads and verges.”
Adoption of the policy means that after twelve weeks, tributes and memorials must be removed. Local residents who were involved in the accident or living near the scene of the accident will also be able to have a say in where flowers are put during the twelve weeks.
The County Council has pledged that it will work with families to look at suitable places where permanent memorials, such as a tree or bench, could be put safely.
Further information
The policy has been developed in consultation with the Sussex Strategic Road Safety Group which is made up of representatives from East and West Sussex County Councils, Brighton & Hove City Council, Highways Agency, Sussex Police and the East Sussex and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Services.
Reference:
1075
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