AIBU - Weeing in lay-bys is anti social and fines should apply

[Thriftnugget]

Item in the news- Dacorum Borough Council have stopped issuing fines for wild wees in lay-bys.
I know that this is on a technicality (anti littering law used and wild wees not classed as litter) but I think people weeing in lay-bys is appalling. It should be subject to fines. I can forgive toddlers/ young children but not adults. There are solutions for those with medical conditions that mean urgent wees are a symptom. And it’s always men. Women need urgent wees too (possibly more so, pregnancy etc) and we don’t pull up in lay-bys and squat in front of passing traffic. AIBU?

So you stop in a lay by and think 'oh this would be such a nice place if it didn't smell of piss'?

Lay bys are horrible, mainly because of passing traffic. What harm does it do to piss in them? I'd rather people did that than see the bottles of piss lorry drivers throw out 😩the rain washes it away.

Way bigger problems

Well let's hope you never get prostate or bladder cancer and lose control of your bladder in public then. Afterall bladder cancer just waits till you get home for a wee doesn't it....

Wee isn't a problem - it doesn't carry anything harmful

Litter is
Poo is

If you have ever had a toddler you will know sometimes they just can't wait

Or a long traffic jam

Any number of illnesses and disabilities

Or any routes that don't have loads of services - there are quite a few multi hour trips that would not pass much except for some foul single uncleaned toilet in the petrol station where the chance of catching something nasty would be real

@Thriftnugget It also occurs to me that if you don’t want to pull up in a lay-by because of urine smells, can you just not travel on further like you want others to do?

it’s genuinely perplexing to me why this is such an issue for you, is it a regular issue?. Just find the next appropriate place to stop for whatever it is you wanted to do in the lay-by.

Women need urgent wees too (possibly more so, pregnancy etc) and we don’t pull up in lay-bys and squat in front of passing traffic.

Speak for yourself. I once drove an hour and a half along the A66 on new year's day with absolutely nowhere open to stop for a wee. By the time I found a suitable layby I was practically in tears.

I can't get worked up by this and people definitely shouldn't be fined for answering a call of nature! I would prefer to wee al fresco than in many of the public toilets I have visited. It's a cleaner, more hygienic experience imo.

That said, it should be done discreetly. And without littering the ground with toilet paper/ tissues. I would always go out of sight. But I think a lot of women moaning about men doing it in plain sight are a tad envious of the ease of urination male equipment affords them. Well, I know I am!

I have in the past stopped in a layby and opened both doors and had a wee when stuck in an enormous tailback. A 20 min journey took 3 hours.

I had never had it happen before (or since!) and I had nothing in the car that I could have used and I wouldn't have a shewee in the car for the once in however many years I might need it.

Can't get upset or offended by this

I think instead of she wees, women need some kind of pop up tube you can shield yourself in

Never done it yet but came close on last drive to the A303. Very few loos to be found. Had to scuttle into Macdonald's and pretend I was there to buy something.

I once had a wee in a layby. It was 5 a.m. and the road was quiet so I hoped I'd get away with it. If I'd thought I could get arrested that would have given it an extra exciting edge.

I'd rather they focused on litter. It's not something I've done often but it happens. If you travel a lot on motorways like the M6 or M1 it's easy to imagine there are services all over the place but it's really not the case. It's pretty easy to be caught short in sparsely populated areas like the Highlands.

I'm always slightly surprised at those who haven't done wild wees.

I used to walk a lot so on a long walk pretty much everyone would wild wee at some point... Discretely but yes.

Layby wees. In our family it's usually me (a woman). My bladder isnt great and can't wait for a hours. It was worse when pregnant and when struggling with a reoccurring cystitis. (I hated pregnant emergency wees) but even now we do emergency wees on longer trips.

Yes of course we "wee before we go" but there are lots of roads without services. Maybe it depends where you drive. If you just do motorway out of London I'd imagine you have services.

There's quite a few 2.5 hour routes we do that usually I'm fine for but say once a year I'm not.

And I imagine the "it's always me" is because they're happy to stand there and have the world watch them.

Id open both car doors and squat between the other side to the road so anyone driving past wouldn't know. (or go behind a bush if there's a bush. There often isn't).

Id say its more that women are discrete.

But yay to all those people with strong bladders or who only travel on routes with services!! But please don't criticise those of us who get caught out because you can't imagine it happening.

Actually I think it should be really discouraged.
(Children who are potty training being the exception)
Some places reek of wee- doorways, carparks etc.
There should be a lot more public toilets.
How many women do you see if laybys off motorways having a wee? There must be women out there with bladder issues!
If its an adult it's always a man, I dont recall ever seeing a woman pubicly wee.

I think it's rarely to do with bladder control but because as a society we accept men weeing in public but not women .

perhaps wee walls? Keep it all in one area?

Don’t see an issue at all , I have to stop and empty my stoma bag at times

Think you for my first laugh today 😂

I don't like dog wee and poo everywhere either. I can't see human wee in a layby any worse than dog excrement all over pavements, parks etc. I would tackle the dog issue first as it's much more widespread

Me neither.

Gosh I had no idea you could get fined for this! Picked my son up from hospital and we had to pull over twice for him to be sick. And last three hour drive had to pull over for him to have a wee twice! There's nothing wrong with him but if you gotta go you gotta go. He is discreet however he went in to the bushes so couldn't be seen.
I had a desperate drive back from the airport once and if I was a man I would have pulled over. Found muscles I didn't know I had!

I often wee in public. I would try to be out of sight though as don't want people to see my bum. It's illegal to stop on the hard shoulder though, I don't see people weeing on the motorway very often.

Look up Sarah Millican in a similar situation. She moved to the passenger seat, had a wee, shifted back, and if memory serves later blamed it on a probably non-existent dog.

Better than dog shit.

How do you know the lay-bys stink of wee? Why are you stopping in them?

Wild weeing is fine.

We have a lay-by that is less than 400m from a garage big enough to have all the facilities including a costa coffee, M and S shop, lorry parking etc, you can actually see it from the lay-by in one direction, and would have driven past it coming from the other.
There is also a massive motorway service station 1/2 a mile away.
Still people wee, and worse, much much worse 🤢 it’s utterly disgusting! And then the littering on top of that…I despair of people!