Are there ever circumstances where it’s justified to throw litter from a car?

[AmyDances]

Every time I go out for a walk near us, I end up coming back pissed off. The verges along the roads are covered in litter – bottles, cans, fast food packaging, and I’ve seen dirty nappies. It’s even worse on the big roads. It’s disgusting and completely unnecessary.

I just don’t understand the mentality. Who thinks, “Oh, I’ve finished my drink, better lob the bottle out the window”? Or “I don’t want this bottle of piss / dog poo bag / dirty nappy in my car for a second longer so I’ll drop it for someone else to pick up.”

So, AIBU to think people who litter like this are just total cf? I just don’t know how they can have so little respect for their environment or other people who have to deal with their mess.

Well if there were someone there pointing a gun at you and threatening to shoot you unless you threw litter out of the car maybe? A giant spider is in the litter and you’re terrified of spiders? Apart from that no, YANBU

But it is lovely to see apple trees growing alongside the railway. My dad always said it was from the firemen tossing the cores in the olden days.

If a slug is on or in it. But u must then get your husband, partner, friend, baby random human, to remove the slug and put the item in the bin. Alternatively I would just throw myself out of the car.

No , it's disgusting behaviour.

I am a litter and random dog poo picker-upper. I live in a rural wlesh village where quite a few folks pick up litter. Most of it is escaped material from recycling bins or the park bins but sometimes it is clear that someone has ditched their litter on the roadside. It is less annoying if they leave a bag with it to make it easier for me to pick up... and don't get me started on the dog shit. It's only a tiny minority of dog walkers round our place but one dog, shitting on the village footpath twice per day, makes a hell of mess. Once a week I fill the equivalent of a carrier bag of shit down the path and chuck it out.

In a bag? Puking at the side of the road is one thing but not chucking out the bag to be picked up by a litter picker.

Maybe if it's on fire and burning you. But seeing as that is unlikely the no

Yes you are right. But I prefaced my comment by explaining I have a phobia. It is the only thing that would cause me to act antisocially.

I'm always rather dubious about people who say they have a phobia of vomit because nobody, NOBODY, actually likes vomit and everybody wants it as far away from themself as possible but not by chucking it out for someone else to clean up. As an adult you deal with your own bodily waste.

Is it an Anglo Saxon thing?

We've done plenty of European cycling and events, rarely do i see litter, not saying never... but in the UK its fucking everywhere.
Especially when verges are cut.

Just stopped today to pick up an empty 2l bottle of screen wash, dumped in a quiet lane, littering along this lane is very common, as its not a touristy area, must be locals.

No. Unless you were aiming it for a bin and succeeded in getting it in there.
Just bag up rubbish and throw in a street bin or take home. It's gross to chuck things out of cars and could injure someone or even cause a collision.

No, of course not.

I’m reminded of the old Clive James review of a documentary about a dog poo warden in Camden.

“In a sane society he would command a department called Shitwatch and would wield the powers of Richelieu. In reality the dog practically has to poo on his shoe for him to make the pinch”. I feel the same about litter. I would love to know what the scum who do this think they are up to except it would probably make me angrier.

The first birthday present I gave to dp when we’d been going out about 6 weeks was his ‘n’ hers litter pickers.

Never

I once had to throw up in a Tesco's bag for life (all we had in the car).

Can't remember if we double bagged it and brought it home or chucked in the dustbin that was on the side of the road

First is okay, second obviously not but neither I or DD can remember as it was a long time ago

Feeling a bit ashamed if I did the latter😭

Ok well, I'm not going to try to convince you that what I have is a.phobia and nothing at all the same as the average person's natural aversion to vomit. It isn't what this thread is about. Just be glad you don't know what I'm experiencing.

Oh I believe you @EverardDeTroyes! I'm able to deal with vomit even though it's disgusting - I have the natural aversion like everyone does - but my daughter suffers really badly with emetophobia. She has learnt to cope pretty well now, thank goodness, because it was debilitating when she was younger.

The one and only time I kind of left litter by my car was after I stepped in dog shit.

It was winter, 6am so still dark, my car was parked over a 10 minute walk from my house due to very few houses having parking so street parking could be awful. So I trudged all the way in the rain and cold to my car, and stepped in shit right by my car. I have patients booked in to see me so if I had walked all the way back to clean my shoes I’d have been late. So I used tissues in my car combined with puddles to clean the best I could and I left them by the road. I was not carrying shitty tissues in my car without a bag or anything for an hour in traffic. Sorry. But I’m just not. Normally I hate littering and would never normally do anything like that.

I think this is the only acceptable reason.

😅😅😅

No never and it's everywhere don't understand, hope the culprits would be happy with 💩 thrown in their front gardens.

People who empty their unneeded rubbish in a public place make me think their home must be dirty. Oh and not forgetting the disgusting cigarette butts that have been tipped out by the kerb
I alway have old paper bags in the my car for any things I need to package up before throwing away.

Apple cores and banana skins are probably ok?

No. I was driving down a motorway and some arse threw a plastic carrier bag out of their car which stuck to my windscreen. Frantic trying to get if off to see. Then 5 mins later they pulled into the services.

I think knowing whether someone is a litter thrower or not is a very useful indicator as to the sort of person they are generally. This is not a person I would have much in common with.

It’s a bit like how you can judge a person by how they treat waiting staff.

Nope, banana skins take 2 years to decompose