Observation #7 - Littering Fines
Jun 25th, 2009 by Alex
I’ve never heard of anyone getting a citation for littering. On the highway and in parks you see all those signs warning that littering will bring fines of $500-1000, but isn’t it a crime everywhere? Where is it actually enforced?
Certainly not on the highway, where I see cigarette butts flung out the window or out the sunroof on a daily basis. It’s like the guy in front of you is just waiting to see if you’ve swerve to avoid the burning embers.
How many cigarette butts are laying by the corner at the corner nearest your house? or at the stop light nearest your office? Hundreds. Maybe thousands.
I can’t see how it’d be a difficult thing to write a ticket for. All you have to do is see it happen. You don’t even need to be driving around; just park near an intersection and wait. It’s not like you could argue that you weren’t paying attention. You either flung something out of your window or not. Make the tickets non-contestable in court.
If just 1% of those butts in the gutter turned into ticketable offenses that brought in fines, the county/state could pull in some serious dough while being good on the environment.
