[Tagging] road accident memorials

[Anne-Karoline Distel]

On 10/06/2023 20:33, Greg Troxel wrote:
> Anne-Karoline Distel <annekadistel at web.de> writes:
>
>> I would like to be able to differentiate memorials for road traffic
>> accidents from other memorials along a road, because I'd really like to
>> know how many there are. Sometimes, it will be difficult to say without
>> local knowledge whether it was that or maybe if the family uses
>> "accident" as a euphemism for suicide, of course.
> In general I don't think it's possible to  separate "accident" from
> "suicide" fully for "motor vehicle crashes", just as it isn't possible
> to separate "overdose" from "suicide" for opiod deaths.
>
> I think OSM has to tag what is, and not evaluate things that can't
> really be evaluated.  In the northeast US, you find crosses along the
> road, often simple white wood that do not necessarily endure more than a
> year or so, and occasional metal permanent ones.  And, often a cross
> with flowers that is there for 1 to several months - the same thing, but
> sometimes too brief to end up mapped (not because it shouldn't be, just
> because it has to last long enough for someone who maps these to notice
> and get to it).
I would say that memorial:cause=traffic_accident would leave the options
open whether the victim intended to die or not.
>
>> I don't know if wayside_cross is used for this in some instances, for
>> example, which IMHO it shouldn't be.
> I don't follow.  If there is a cross by the road, are you saying that
> depending on the beliefs of the people that put it up about cause, then
> it should or shouldn't be tagged wayside_cross?

A historic=wayside_cross does not mark the spot; it is not left in a
location where someone is buried or died. It is a way to make sure the
soul of the deceased gets into heaven easier by having passers by pray
for the soul. You don't have to believe in it, but that's what people
believed back then (and maybe some still do). I didn't grow up with this
practise, but this is what Catholic people did in Early Modern Ireland.
Not every cross by the wayside is a wayside cross. Like so many things
in the historic category, the tagging is a bit messy. Some examples in
my area: http://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1vVq

I guess I have a topic for a new video... There are a couple more
surviving in County Kilkenny, but I want to keep some work for the video.

Anne