People who toss trash from their car deserve jail

That's my view. I've seen idiots open their car windows and let bags -- McDonald's lunch? -- fly out. More states and cities are deputizing their residents to report motorists who toss trash out the window. My mother would only allow us to toss apples out the window "because the birds will eat them." (USA Today)

Comments

[Grew]

Made to grow, throw it. Made by man, can it.

[SwarthyTroll]

How about just making smoking and driving a crime? Or any smoking in public for that matter.

[SouthernGuy]

Why not public caning for littering?

[Blair]

Wish we had a campaign like this in my area. It's downright irritating when you see the trash come whizzing out of a car as it goes down the road.

[Mark]

I followed behind the car of an elderly gentleman (I say "gentleman" because I don't want to swear) one day... Every quarter-mile or so, he would throw out something different - a can, a bottle, a fast-foot bag, etc. It was disgusting. I finally pulled up to him, rolled down my window and yelled at him. He just laughed it off and threw more trash out the window!

He might have been insane... I'm not sure...

People who throw trash out of their window are generally the scum of the earth. Jail isn't the answer, but I really don't think impounding their car would be the end of the world.

[SwarthyTroll]

Does anyone remember that episode of the A-Team where they are helping some New Yorkers out and they get a garbage truck and dump it in the middle of the goons club?

Imagine doing that in a litterbugs living room, and then mail them the little litter baggie a day later.

[Daniel]

Why stop at litter out car windows? Crimes that should have public canning: Jaywalking, Talking on cell phone while driving, littering in or out of the car, double strokes for litter in a park or playground, excessive noise, drunk driving (tripple strokes)there is a whole list of dangerous and anoying habits that people should be fined and punished for doing.

[SwarthyTroll]

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

[Lou Sussler]

I would add spitting gum on the sidewalk to the list of crimes that should be punished by caning.

I would also, however, remove jaywalking from the list of offenses or at least define it. Jaywalking in front of traffic, yes cane them; crossing the street against the light when there is absolutely no traffic, risk or danger, no please don't cane me.

[Phranqlin]

Bring back the stocks and pillory!

[Jay]

But, I do Jay Walking all the time. I can't help it!

[Jack]

Just pull up to any stoplight, look at the ground to your left, and count all to smokers cig butts on the ground!

[ljk]

my mom would only allow us to litter apple cores, too. but what about using bran muffins to express your feelings toward fellow motorists...won't the birds eat those?

the most disgusting display of ghetto i've ever seen happened one day, standing outside on my friend's lawn. this rusted cadillac starts creepin' down her street, we turn around to watch our backs (not exactly in a neighborhood where drive-bys are an uncommon occurance) and this nasty nappy headed passenger looks us straight in the eye, takes a big bite of her drumstick and tips her box of chicken bones out the window, directly in front of her driveway, and they speed off. as if they're in a hurry all of a sudden. we still laugh about that.

[Stan Flouride]

ljk-
your Klan robes are showing...

[ljk]

yeah, my black best friend dry clean's em. do you have a sense of humor? or at least some common sense?

[lester]

when i smoked, i used to roll my own. usually didn't toss the butts out ... and my ashtray made for a couple of interesting conversations with some state troopers.

[boynamedsue]

agreed, you can argue that jail time is harsh, but you also have to realize that theres absolutely no valid reason to throw a mcdonalds bag out the window. (Because its littering and also because theres no valid reason to eat at mcdonalds)

[Lou Sussler]

If you roll your own, there's no crime in dropping the butt end as long as it's on grass or in a park or something. That thing is gone 5 minutes after it starts raining or the next day at the latest assuming there's Morning Dew.

[K]

Littering cigarette butts is a huge problem, especially in California where a hot cigarette butt can set dry brush on fire. Even if you throw it into the road, I've heard that they can be hot enough to start a fire for 48 hours. Who knows where the butt could go in that time? I wish I could throw it back in the window of the car and let that person find out what happens.

[JDubs]

I really don't throw trash out the window much, except when I finish a beer, then I just toss it...

[bg]

Bran muffins for birds? Someone call the SPCA!

[Swangirl]

That photo of the Louisville mayor gazing thoughtly upon a pile of trash really tugs at my heartstrings.

I have to say it. What difference is this going to truly make? People who exhibit this kind of behavior (especially the "buttheads") are not going to stop because the cops sent them a note and a trash bag. It'll probably tick them off so much they'll do it more.

Littering makes me mad but the buttheads made me the angriest. I could care less if you smoke in your car but please use your ashtray instead of cluttering up the curbs with the remains of your chosen habit.

[Blair]

The tossed butts aren't just a problem in California. A few years back I caught a fire in it's early stages (flames only a foot high) when someone tossed a butt into a mulch bed.

It was early afternoon and not many other people around. Another few minutes and that could have become a serious problem.

[Acedia]

I too despise people who treat the earth as their personal garbage pit but I have to say that our jails are crowded enough -- I'd rather leave room to make sure all the truly scary people are locked up.

But I do think that mandatory road cleanup duty should be a given, for at least repeat offenders. Maybe they'd stop thinking it's ok to toss trash out the window after they are forced to pick up someone else's half-eaten food or sticky beer can for a month or two.

[Acedia]

Maybe it's time to bring back the crying Indian. (Anyone else old enough to remember?)

[Swangirl]

Acedia, I do!

[Sheila]

He was played by Iron Eyes Cody.

[anon]

This is what happened to a cyclist in Toronto who threw a guy's garbage back into his car:
http://www.citynoise.org/article/2770

[Lop]

It's still trash idiot and considered littering

[Ru]

It turns out that even tossing an apple core from your car is bad;

I visited a Raptor center recently and learned that many of the eagles, hawks, and owls that are rescued after injury are from crashing into cars...

The reason they get into wrecks with cars - your apple cores, banana peels etc. attract mice and other small animals to roadsides, which in turn attract the birds of prey. Bird vs. car is a bad bad deal for the birds.

So don't litter! Period!