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?

I think the courts have better things to do 🤷‍♀️

It’s not ideal but I prefer someone does a piss in the lay-by rather than being driving distracted/poorly as they are bursting to wee.

In the country where no one can see me and where my wee will not contribute to making a stinky public area.

Lay-bys are hardly nice scenic areas, are they?

The thing is, no one (well hopefully!) is weeing in a layby for fun or because they have a choice. I think everyone agrees it's not ideal but it isn't like littering where you have a choice not to. I don't see why people should be fined for having to do it when it is down to the poor infrastructure of our country and the massive cuts to public facilities. I'm sure most people would choose a decent loo over a layby.

What bothers you?

The exposure of genitalia? This is think can be grim, people should have the decency to pop behind a bush.

Or the actual urine?

Because honestly, the urine impact is minute, the environment can easily handle it. Wild animals are out there peeing constantly.

Also there are plenty of sections of road where services are few and far between, there are fewer and fewer public loos available now.

Good luck with policing it.

Don't be ridiculous.

I've had to wee at the side of the road numerous times because there were no toilets for miles and if I didn't I would wet myself. If I wasn't absolutely desperate I wouldn't do it.

I do not want to see a bloke having a wee. I find it really entitled that men will stand in full view of a motorway and do that.

Just because men can whip their penis out easily doesn't mean that should.

And I don't care if they are being "discreet" they should move from full view. It's disgraceful.

Found this

Made some people very cross this morning I think. Gonna leave here with this.
Cheers to those who took my AIBU in the spirit it was intended - which wasn’t a campaign against wild wees but a response to an article in the news about peeing in public lay-bys (not hard shoulder/country lanes/woods etc).
Must admit I’m going to struggle to forget the response about carrying a bottle of piss under your arm into shops….. 😹

so’s ‘getting your fanny out’ - animals urinate, it’s just a fact that it’s out of bits humans generally like to keep private.

Lay-bys are by their design situated in locations that are hard to find elsewhere to pull over and park up. I’ve never seen anyone facing the road proudly displaying their genitalia at the roadside making sure anyone going past gets a good look, I’m pretty sure that’s not just me being naive. men will definitely be more obvious by their anatomical set up, they can use their body for some amount of shield.

There are not nearly enough roadside toilets in the UK. My DD (12) has a small bladder and anxiety about needing the toilet. Sometimes she has to go when we are on a long journey and we are miles from the nearest services. We drive in France every year and there are frequent roadside toilets (sometimes a bit grim, but still a toilet!).

So?

Can't get upset about this.

We make a three hour car journey every three weeks (kids aged between 12 and 5), husband and I...and we quite often have to pull over so someone can have a wee. I try not to...I seem to end up weeing on my ankles most of the time - but I have gone between two doors. I'm not risking unsafe driving or getting a uti, and there are no services in a good chunk of the road we drive along.

Everyone is discreet (open two doors and go between or walk further into bushes)

FFS!

It’s normally men because whilst there stood there weeing in a bush it’s obvious what they are doing but there is nothing on show
women have to squat and undress

Cornet, I've never wee'd at the side of a road, so never had to risk my fanny being seen

Don't be ridiculous! My OH is a Truck driver. One drop takes him around 3 hours to get too and there isn't anywhere other than lay by's in which he can pull into should he need to go for a piss. It's not like he park a 26 tonne Truck up a side street so he wonder round trying to find a toilet and nor should he have to not drink anything until he either gets to his drop or back to depot

Humans need to drink and then they need to wee. We choose to ignore this fact by having fewer and fewer public toilets, but that will not change the reality. I object to public weeing when other alternatives are available, but where there is no other alternative? I can't get angry about it.

I'm old enough to remember public toilets everywhere. Unfortunately they became places for rough sleepers, sex workers, drug users and gay hook up sites. It was the lack of public disorder/anti social etc laws that closed our toilets. They'd be unusable if they did exsit.
A lot of men don't want to use the gents because of the state they get in, they'd rather go outside. However out of everything going wrong in the UK, we don't need to criminalise this.

I have a medical problem and can't always wait without severe discomfort and further damage.
Never done it in the street or an alleyway.

Have gone in a layby. Or in bushes on a walk.
Tried using the she wee but I couldn't do it in the car. Still meant I had to get out pull my knickers and trousers down to use it. Much easier to go in a bush.

They knocked down our public WC and the pubs etc have signs saying for paying customers only. Seems to be happening all over England.

Driving in Europe the facilities ae much better and cleaner.

I don't mind paying to use clean loos as you do in Belgium etc.

Ok, but plenty of other women have

Re urine, it's female urine that damages plant life, we shouldn't piss on the compost heap, but it's useful for men to.

Exactly this. And I've found some European countries are far better than the UK at providing places at regular intervals to stop for a pee.

But there's no legal requirement for the UK's cash-strapped councils (or highway bodies) to provide toilets which means they've closed in record numbers all over the country in the past few years. We've already lost an estimated 50% of all our public toilets in the past ten years and frankly there weren't enough to begin with. Until there is a statutory requirement to provide enough loos for the public to use that's not going to change.

Long-distance HGV drivers sometimes park up overnight in a village near me. They're supposed to use designated rest areas on motorways/main roads but a) there aren't enough of them and b) they can cost a lot. It means residents have had to deal with bags of excrement and plastic bottles full of pee being left behind. Obviously that's utterly foul, inexcusable and a health hazard but the drivers point out there just aren't enough facilities for them to use on the road network. And it's well known that delivery drivers who are on the road for hours on end can end up peeing in bottles or in public because there are too few public toilets available (although their schedules can be so ridiculous they might not have time to track one down anyway).

So even though it's nasty I can't get that upset about someone of either sex discreetly peeing in a layby when they can't hold on long enough to find a toilet. And I don't think people should be fined by government when it's national and local government who are responsible for the lack of toilets.