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In this photo taken on Thursday, April 27, 2017, a car drives past an abandoned iron roadside shrine near the village of Kritharakia, in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece. On a long, straight stretch of rural road in southern Greece, a little reminder of death stands among the long grass. Flanked by plastic flowers and illuminated after sunset by solar-powered lights, such miniature shrines are a common sight in a country that has one of the European Union's worst road fatality rates. Made of iron sheeting, stone, wood, concrete or marble, tens of thousands of such shrines punctuate Greece's roadside scenery, usually on tricky bends or cliffside stretches – even in central Athens. In a few cases, they are offerings of thanks from motorists who escaped alive from a bad crash. Most contain religious pictures, perhaps a picture of the deceased and an oil-fuelled lamp. According to police data, 804 people died in road accidents in Greece last year and more than 13,000 were injured, placing a severe burden on the cash-strapped country's public health and welfare systems. It's the sixth-worst road fatality rate in the 28-member European Union, according to the Eurostat statistical agency. (Photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP Photo)
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