*vent* Cleaning out your car while driving...

[ame]

This morning I was behind a woman in traffic who chose to throw her trash out of her moving car. Driving down the highway, in the rain, in moderately light morning rush hour traffic, just chucking out her vehicle trash via the driver's side window. Empty water bottles. Soda cans. Kleenex. Literal handfuls of receipts. Plastic grocery bags. An actual fast food bag full of something, likely food scraps, thankfully by then I was off to the side of her and the guy behind her got that one right in his windshield. Aside from the traffic and road hazards, and the fact that my BRAND NEW car was surely dinged by at least one of those items (seriously, wtf!), what possessed this person to think that the environment needed all of her crap in it at that moment? Why could she not wait the 10 minutes it would've taken her to get to work to throw them into a trash can where she parks or works?

I called the cops. Not just because littering on the highway is illegal, but because she's hurling a literal volume of garbage on the highway causing a bit of a traffic hazard in the rain for other drivers. We happened to exit at the same place, and I GLARED at her at the light, she looked over, saw me, and went back to literally dancing like she was in da club in her car like nothing had happened. I wondered if she was drunk. It was a real possibility.

What a jerk!

 

[TooPatient]

Glad you called the police. That is disgusting AND dangerous

 

[ame]

Glad you called the police. That is disgusting AND dangerous

It was ridiculous. I am not really a treehugger, but there's no reason for that at all. She was a few minutes from a trash can.

 

[chrono]

What happened to common courtesy? She was being an unsafe (distracted) driver, littering and endangering other drivers!

 

[distracts]

wtf? I have never seen someone do that. That is so weird and unsafe!

 

[Dee*Jay]

I have seen people throw stuff out their windows, but never to this degree! Seriously ame -- WTF are people thinking?!?

One time when we saw a guy throwing something out his window the CB told me that his ex-wife used to do that. She wouldn't think twice about finishing a big mac and tossing the container out of the car. He asked her repeatedly not to, but she kept doing it. Eventually he had enough and every time she did it he would stop the car, no matter where they were, and just sit there, regardless of how long it took, until she went and got whatever she had thrown out. It didn't take long for her to stop doing this (at least while he was with her).

Sorry for the threadjack with that story, but just goes to show you this woman is not alone in this type of behavior. There's never a cop around when you need one...!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Distracting driving is so dangerous. Glad you called, I would have done the same.

cheers--Sharon

 

[ame]

I have seen people throw stuff out their windows, but never to this degree! Seriously ame -- WTF are people thinking?!?

One time when we saw a guy throwing something out his window the CB told me that his ex-wife used to do that. She wouldn't think twice about finishing a big mac and tossing the container out of the car. He asked her repeatedly not to, but she kept doing it. Eventually he had enough and every time she did it he would stop the car, no matter where they were, and just sit there, regardless of how long it took, until she went and got whatever she had thrown out. It didn't take long for her to stop doing this (at least while he was with her).

Sorry for the threadjack with that story, but just goes to show you this woman is not alone in this type of behavior. There's never a cop around when you need one...!

Wow! I don't blame him!

It really was RIDICULOUS. I felt for the guy that got the bag of food in his windshield. I don't know what gets into people's minds that they are somehow above it all and more important than anyone else, and that their shit doesn't stink.

 

[junebug17]

Ugh, just reading your post is making my blood pressure go up! :angry fire: First of all, I've always detested littering, even as a teen-ager. I get livid when I see people tossing out cigarette butts! The world isn't your personal ashtray buddy. But to be throwing your trash from a moving car…on a highway??? I'm a pretty laid-back person but this makes me really angry. I'm glad you called the cops on her. Very frustrating that she thought it was ok to do this.

 

[Calliecake]

I've never seen anything like what you describing and am thankful I havent. Wow makes me wonder how this person was raised. I would think decent parents would teach their children that its not acceptable to throw anything that belongs in the garbage out the window. This woman could have caused an accident. I'm glad you called the police.

 

[chemgirl]

Wow what an idiot. I'm glad you called the police. Did you get a plate number? I bet if they pull her over she will act all surprised and pretend it wasn't her.

What a sense of entitlement. I bet a pop can does actual damage at that type of speed. Total disregard for other people.

 

[kenny]

What a jerk!

 

[ame]

Wow what an idiot. I'm glad you called the police. Did you get a plate number? I bet if they pull her over she will act all surprised and pretend it wasn't her.

What a sense of entitlement. I bet a pop can does actual damage at that type of speed. Total disregard for other people.

I think a lot of it would do real damage at that speed. I got a plate number, a description of the driver and her car, and stayed with her for several miles while I was on the phone with them describing everything she was throwing out the window. They did say someone else called in on her. But I don't know IF they got her. I hope like heck they did.

Something that ALWAYS enrages me is cigarettes. Ashing, flicking them, anything cigarette. If you want to smoke, keep it IN YOUR CAR. You ash, you put it out, you KEEP IT IN YOUR CAR. Don't ash on mine, don't flick it on mine, don't make me inhale that crap. If you want to do it, fine, YOU DO IT TO YOURSELF AND NO ONE ELSE.

 

[missy]

Yeah, a real jerk. I hope the cops caught up with her. I actually have called the police before when I have seen an erratic driver on the road. It is very scary when people behave recklessly because the potential for harm to others is a real possibility. And for someone to throw trash out like that is mind boggling. It really is a sense of entitlement without caring about others or the planet. Pathetic.

 

[kenny]

Something that ALWAYS enrages me is cigarettes. Ashing, flicking them, anything cigarette. If you want to smoke, keep it IN YOUR CAR. You ash, you put it out, you KEEP IT IN YOUR CAR. Don't ash on mine, don't flick it on mine, don't make me inhale that crap. If you want to do it, fine, YOU DO IT TO YOURSELF AND NO ONE ELSE.

ASHHOLES!

 

[azstonie]

I've seen this several times, both when I was in large cities and anonymity ruled. Its just abhorrent, its like that person views the world as THEIR PERSONAL GARBAGE DUMP or something.

I like countries where littering is almost a death penalty crime! So clean and tidy!!! Caning is not unreasonable for offenses involving gum, which ruins shoes, etc.

in California, my home state, San Francisco ignored their littering issues in the 1980s and 1990s and eventually people stopped coming there as tourists or from surrounding Bay Area communities to dine out, shop, etc. Add on naked homeless people wrestling with mental illness with no assistance and it got pretty quiet around Union Square and other prime areas.

 

[rainydaze]

This is appalling! DH and I cannot for the life of us understand how people can litter, and this woman takes it to new levels.

 

[ame]

DH is now researching how to "hack" the camera system on my car to get a video of this to post online.

 

[makemepretty]

By your description of the persons behavior, I'd be willing to bet money they have some kind of mental problem. I have a family member that suffers from mental problems and occasionally does something so out of the norm that it leaves people just shaking their heads. They just don't understand what is appropriate wrong/right. She once mimicked an old lady's accent because she thought the older lady was doing the accent on purpose to make fun of her(wtf? right?) Unfortunately, people with those types of problems look completely normal so you just can't tell. Hopefully no one gets hurt by their behavior.