on the road again

Fast Food Trash and Road Kill

     Have you ever noticed what the majority of trash is that accumulates alongside our roads is and who is responsible for this happening? I have as I visually take inventory of what is laying there and why. Dead animals top my list of wonders first, then trash as things we could see less of. And we are all responsible to a degree to reduce both in one way or another.

    First, if it is dead animals, we just need to be more vigilant of being aware that wild animals share our environment as well as we do. At first, before humans came around there was no roads and animal wander freely as it is their nature to do so, in search of food or on migratory travels. Still they were the original inhabitants of this area way before white man or Indians had a chance to thrust their civilization upon them and use them first as a source of food and later as an obstacle on a roadway, destined to be smeared in a greasy ball of hair all over our roadways.

    We can’t save every deer or coon that decides to cross our roadway in front of our vehicle but we can seriously reduce that number by being more observant and paying attention while driving and upon seeing an animal, take time to slow up and make sure you avoid them. This is a simple thing to do. I have done my very best to avoid killing anything on the roads and hope everyone out there does the same. But looking at the roads here lately it seems as if we are not doing so well. Also we need to contact ODOT- Ohio Department of Transportation and other local road agencies to assure dead animals are removed to prevent animals like coons and possums from foraging on carcasses.

      We spread salt on our roads and encourage animals like deer and groundhogs to forage on the grasses alongside the road to provide needed salt in their diets, this foraging in turn increases the likelihood that these same animals will be hit. We need the salt and I understand it is ODOT policy to not clean up carcasses from roadways anymore. We need to change this policy as I really have a hard time understanding just how our tax dollars are being spent as I see less and less of ODOT workers doing much of anything including mowing alongside the roads. Picking up dead carcasses isn’t very pretty but it was done in the past and was part of their job description. Avoiding them is always the best option. Also coming into hunting season we must be aware that deer will be moving and especially more so as farmers prepare to harvest grain from fields and hunters drive deer from forests onto roadways. We need to be especially vigilant in making sure we are practicing defensive driving as you really don’t need an accident.

     Pets are another source of animals that are drawn to the roadways in search of a meal and again you may not like the idea of Fido munching down on some flat groundhog and heading home to kiss you, but it is their nature to have variety of foods in their diets. Cats are usually just crossing a road in search of company or were dropped off by less than scrupulous people who avoid any responsibility for anything. It still happens though. Squirrels are just plain nuts and like to dance in front of cars as if to taunt you. Still if seen do your best to avoid them. I am not advocating getting into a wreck to avoid them but if seeing any animal in or alongside the road, do your best to just slow up and avoid them as you never know when they are going to jump in front of you.

     My next pet peeve is the trash we conveniently throw from our car as we have fewer and fewer options to remove our waste properly besides carrying it home to dispose of. In the first place I feel every township and county should have a requirement of every restaurant that provides takeout dinners or food of any kind to have a trash can available in their parking lot to dispose of trash. These people are making a profit off the trash they develop and have a responsibility to reduce the amount alongside the roads. In our county we have a litter prevention officer who spends his time ticketing truck drivers for anything but trash. This officer needs to refocus his efforts on just ticketing trash offenders as the time he spends alongside the road hassling commercial drivers, would be better spent searching and understanding where the trash that accumulates alongside our roads is coming from. This means getting out of the vehicle and actually picking up trash to find a name and try to prosecute offenders. If it is fast food trash then he needs to check the restaurant it came from to assure they have proper trash receptacles in place.

     Another option would be to increase the fine for disposing of trash in unapproved receptacles. If you have an old couch or a bunch deer innards you want to throw in some out of the way place alongside a road somewhere , then you should be fined heavily, and we need to have a go to person we can call and assure he will follow up on complaints of illegal dumping of trash and body parts. This is where the litter officer comes in and it should be his duty to respond to any complaints directly. A fine of 2000 dollars, or do fifty hours of community service specifically picking up trash would surely make people think twice before throwing anything out their window, and may keep our roadways much cleaner.

     We will always have those people who feel they are above the law and they are special enough that this wouldn’t apply to them. We all have a responsibility to keep our neighborhoods clean, from the people who generate trash like the fast food restaurants to the end users like ourselves. We need to be vigilant about making sure that we are doing all we can to stop this practice of cleaning our cars while driving down the road. It may be your house someone dumps a pile at next time. Another pet peeve of mine is the open container law and feel it also should be scrapped. People who drink and drive will still do it regardless of that law; the only problem with it is that people will dispose of their cans and bottles to avoid being prosecuted on having an open container in the car.

    I am not advocating any type of drinking behavior but do notice there are by far more beer cans and bottles disposed of alongside roads as a result of this law. Maybe the beer manufacturers need to code their product to see if we can better trace where it came from to get an idea of who the offenders are and stop them from disposing in the first place. Not sure how we would do it, but I am sure there is way. This would also help in detecting who the offenders are that are driving drunk illegally, and allow the authorities to keep a closer eye on them. Maybe make it requirement that in order to sell liquor for takeout, you must have a photo of each consumer purchasing along with a special code recorded for each sale. This would make consumers of alcohol products more responsible for their trash. After all, how hard is it to wait till you are home, or at a safe location with trash receptacles, before consuming your alcohol. The code be random and generated at the facility manufacturing the product and when distributed would result in a uniqueness only to the area where it is consumed. This would allow an officer to have a picture of the person buying the product, and a time and place where it was bought, and aid them in finding out who as ultimately responsible for the trash illegally disposed of. Maybe a copy of the license would also be used to purchase the alcohol to assure they were of age when purchasing the product, and would be recorded at the place it was purchased for later use in identifying the person responsible.  

     I am sure the alcohol manufacturers would have a fit over this one; as well a good portion of the consumers would see it as a violation of their rights. But for the most part they are doing it right now, without anyone being aware of it. We just haven’t applied he technology available. When you head into a gas station or minute mart and purchase your alcohol you are already on camera being taped in case you decide to flash a 45. The next step would be to have a double image where the camera would also record a copy of your license and the code on the product being bought. This would only be used where it is necessary for law enforcement to retrieve information for illegally disposing of containers and in cases of impaired driving. I am not saying this is the answer, but it is a solution to the problem to make disposing of alcoholic containers and as well pop cans and bottles in a more responsible way. Pop cans and bottles could be purchased by minors without identification but with the coding could be traced back to the original sale point making identification easier. If nothing else  we could always just let the people think there is a way to trace the waste generated and I am sure the majority would comply if they thought they could be punished, and the fine was high enough to deter them from doing so. .

      We as a people just need to look at our options and I am sure we could find a solution to make our environment a much cleaner place than it is. We need to transition from a disposable society to one that is reusing and recycling our consumables. Packaging needs to be reduced and our use of landfills as a solution to our waste problems also needs to be reduced and a lot of it starts with you the consumer, and being responsible for what you purchase and use. As well by letting others know that we are all in this together, to make our world a much better place to live.