ROADSIDE SHRINES

THE CHALLENGE

Unfortunately, Greece remains among the countries with the highest number of fatal road accidents in the EU. While everyone knows our roads aren’t safe, the pattern continues. That’s what we needed to land for the Road Safety Institute “Panos Milonas” on the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. But how do you remind people how dangerous Greece’s road network really is, while helping prevent another tragedy?

THE APPLEFALL MOMENT

The road map itself held the answer. Across Greece, the reminders of fatal crashes are everywhere. Not just along national highways, but also within our neighborhoods. These are the “ekklisakia”; the small roadside shrines built in memory of lives lost on the road.

Unofficial. Undocumented. Yet, always present, they quietly record our collective grief. A “map” has been there all along, hiding in plain sight.

THE SOLUTION

“Roadside Shrines”

We created ekklisakiaioas.gr: the first initiative to document every shrine across our country through an interactive map, powered by every citizen’s contribution. By documenting these memorials we don’t just visualize data. We reveal the most complete, unfiltered picture of road safety in Greece.

All with one goal: to prevent future tragedies, by turning our campaign into a nationwide effort and shining light on a tradition so deeply woven into our landscape that it has become almost invisible.