Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

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Valbrona
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Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

Post by Valbrona »

I don't like riding in winter for lots of reasons, and lack of foliage/vegetation alongside the roads is one of them because you can see the heaps of crap that have piled up over the years due to drivers slinging litter out of their car/vehicle windows.

I no longer blame the drivers though. Instead, nowadays I blame the people who should be fining drivers for doing this, ie. Highways Authorities. And Highways Authorities should also have systems in place to ensure that road refuse is removed and also systems in place to discourage drivers from chucking rubbish out of their windows in the first place.

So, where are the filthiest drivers in the UK? I say Derbyshire. And while I am at it, I have found Derbyshire roads to be amongst the most poorly maintained roads in the country.
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661-Pete
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Re: Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

Post by 661-Pete »

Well, I say Sussex, but then I would nominate my home county, I suppose.... :evil:

Perhaps we ought to all get out with a camera and post the worst examples. Certainly, how many of you have come up against a country lane completely blocked by fly-tipping? At least that was cleared within 24 hours, someone notified the Council before I did. "Obstructing the Queen's highway" etc. etc. But much of the junk can stay out there for weeks.

The biggest single item? Well, I remember coming across an entire oil tank, the sort that rural houses have in their gardens to store their heating oil in. But I don't doubt that someone can beat that!
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mjr
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Re: Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

Post by mjr »

Don't tell us. Tell your local media that you're sick of these litter louts and that roads should be closed to through motor vehicles if they won't behave. Bonus points if you can avoid being labelled as a cyclist.

Best one I've found was a complete "SLOW police incident" pop up sign. I called it in but they never collected it so after a few months I put it in my trailer and took it to their main station. They weren't happy. It was rather muddy.
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MikeF
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Re: Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

Post by MikeF »

It's not just filthy motorists it's filthy cyclists as well - drink bottles so often thrown in the hedge, "remains" from puncture repair, food packaging etc. Sounds like the pot calling kettle black.
Why are you blaming Highways Authorities? I cannot comprehend your logic.
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TrevA
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Re: Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

Post by TrevA »

In Cuba, we saw the fuselage of a MIG Fighter Jet that had been dumped at the side of the road. Apparently, the Army had left it there to be recycled by the local residents.
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Ben@Forest
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Re: Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

Post by Ben@Forest »

mjr wrote:Best one I've found was a complete "SLOW police incident" pop up sign. I called it in but they never collected it so after a few months I put it in my trailer and took it to their main station. They weren't happy. It was rather muddy.


When we moved house (doing it ourselves) about 10 years ago the new house was on a blind bend so I asked the police if they'd put a warning sign out when we parked the lorry there, which they did. I rung the police station to say we'd finished and they said they'd pick it up. About three weeks later I reminded them it was still there. Some weeks later I reminded them again and when it didn't go I brought the sign in.

About six months later I dropped the sign into a local but different police station telling them the story. The copper said, "Well, it may have have been XXX's sign but it's ours now". It made me think two things, firstly are the police really so strapped for cash if they can afford not to pick up their own equipment? And secondly shouldn't they have given it back to the original station?
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foxyrider
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Re: Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

Post by foxyrider »

Valbrona wrote:I don't like riding in winter for lots of reasons, and lack of foliage/vegetation alongside the roads is one of them because you can see the heaps of crap that have piled up over the years due to drivers slinging litter out of their car/vehicle windows.

I no longer blame the drivers though. Instead, nowadays I blame the people who should be fining drivers for doing this, ie. Highways Authorities. And Highways Authorities should also have systems in place to ensure that road refuse is removed and also systems in place to discourage drivers from chucking rubbish out of their windows in the first place.

So, where are the filthiest drivers in the UK? I say Derbyshire. And while I am at it, I have found Derbyshire roads to be amongst the most poorly maintained roads in the country.


maybe Derbyshire but its all those grockles from darn sarf that are leaving the crap, us locals don't do the leaving!
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foxyrider
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Re: Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

Post by foxyrider »

661-Pete wrote:Well, I say Sussex, but then I would nominate my home county, I suppose.... :evil:

Perhaps we ought to all get out with a camera and post the worst examples. Certainly, how many of you have come up against a country lane completely blocked by fly-tipping? At least that was cleared within 24 hours, someone notified the Council before I did. "Obstructing the Queen's highway" etc. etc. But much of the junk can stay out there for weeks.

The biggest single item? Well, I remember coming across an entire oil tank, the sort that rural houses have in their gardens to store their heating oil in. But I don't doubt that someone can beat that!


a whole bus on Arran a few years back, side of the road being broken up piecemeal!
Convention? what's that then?
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Heltor Chasca
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Re: Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

Post by Heltor Chasca »

Not UK, but can it be somewhere with some sort of link? Guinness. The worst I've seen roadside litter is in Botswana. Guinness had a brewery out there (whether it still does or not I haven't checked) and they packaged their famous dark stout in cans. But to save money they used an aluminium alloy which couldn't be recycled. (As did all the other big drinks producers) The result? The bush near to any towns and cities was littered with drinks cans. Horrible...hc
Postboxer
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Re: Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

Post by Postboxer »

There's just no need for it is there, people caught should be made to clear a litter hot spot on a busy day until it's spotless, then repeat in the same area a week or so later.

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Paulatic
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Re: Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

Post by Paulatic »

We had virtually no litter in the lanes around my home. Then MacDonalds opened in the nearby motorway services. [emoji17]
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661-Pete
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Re: Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

Post by 661-Pete »

Back in the 1980s, in the seaside town of Vodice in what was then Yugoslavia (now Croatia), we decided to forsake the beach one day and take a walk inland, following what we judged from the map would be a pleasant rural lane. We thought wrong. The rubbish dumped by the roadside was unspeakable, it extended in a continuous pile on both verges for miles inland (so it appeared) and we abandoned our walk. Among the items dumped were a dead donkey, plus another one almost dead (nothing we could do for the poor beast :cry: ). We speculated at the time that possibly the Yugoslavs had no refuse-collection service (and perhaps no vets either).

Anyway, I assume it's all been cleaned up since then.
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eileithyia
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Re: Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

Post by eileithyia »

So often rubbish arrives from another place, while unable to cycle in Mallorca a couple of years back, i went for a walk in the Bequer Valley, the path eventually leads down to a secluded beach, sadly according to various reviews utterly ruined by litter which presumably gets washed in.....

Another culprit are various lorries, only today i have followed a local builders merchants lorry that was shedding plastic wrapping, and how often does a recycling wagon have faulty covering and is going merrily on its way while shedding all sorts of detritus...
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pwa
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Re: Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

Post by pwa »

My most litter-strewn road locally is a straight bit of tarmac that was part of a WWII airfield, now a trading estate at LLandow, Vale of Glamorgan. The verge has been planted with a hawthorn hedge and it collects an impressive amount of wind-blown plastic. There is little traffic on that particular strip, so I don't think the rubbish is from cars. But there is a recycling company nearby, and I suspect that the plastic may be coming off passing recycling lorries. A lot of litter these days is connected with recycling. Ripped bags, etc. It's better than the old "system" of chucking everything in a hole in the ground, but it brings its own problems.
Flinders
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Re: Filthy Drivers: Roadside Rubbish

Post by Flinders »

eileithyia wrote:So often rubbish arrives from another place, while unable to cycle in Mallorca a couple of years back, i went for a walk in the Bequer Valley, the path eventually leads down to a secluded beach, sadly according to various reviews utterly ruined by litter which presumably gets washed in.....

Another culprit are various lorries, only today i have followed a local builders merchants lorry that was shedding plastic wrapping, and how often does a recycling wagon have faulty covering and is going merrily on its way while shedding all sorts of detritus...


Try Camasunary beach on Skye( a beautiful beach, BTW). I've never seen so much rubbish on a beach.
From the hills above I could see funny-coloured stuff by the waterline, but not what it was. Once we got down there, we saw masses of bits of rubbish, mostly plastic, stuff like an old welly, fishing nets, all sorts of stuff.

I'm told the locals go there to have a clean up if the rubbish from time to time, but as the place is only accessible over passes on foot or by small boats by sea it isn't easy to remove it. Had there been bins there and a notice, we'd have done our bit and filled a bin or two when we were there.......................
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