Sic Transit, Gloria Mundi

Took some friends to the airport today. On Highway 101 I saw something really odd: a group of road-work vehicles and traffic cops on the northbound shoulder in front of an enormous series of boards covered in flowers.

Everyone has seen the impromptu memorials on the side of the road at a crash site, right? This was on a completely different scale. I couldn’t figure out what happened there until I remembered that the Tongan royal family had died on that road a couple of days ago, killed in a collision with a drag-racing teenager.

I see now that CalTrans was clearing off the Tongan memorial because it was a distraction to other motorists.

Very sad.