Littered motorways

[cleanhighwaysMan]

Are you interested in doing something about getting our badly littered motorways and trunk roads cleaned up?

I have managed to get the Highways Authority to increase the resources spent cleaning the London end of the M40 by a factor of 6 times. It is now relatively clean compared to the horrendous state it was in the Spring.

Please take a look at my web site (non profit of course) to see how this was done and tell me what you think!

If the link does not work please google "cleanhighways" and you should find me.

You may want to adopt a piece of motorway or trunk road and take similar action.

[eeyore]

the thing is that while is laudable that you care - the highways agency isnt sitting on its behind doing nothing and thus all cases like this achieve is to move resources from one area to another.

so yes great the M40 in the wycombe area is now much cleaner than it was before, but the agency now has corespondingly less resources to clean another section - not to mention those resources wasted on dealing with your compaint and court case.

This will be even more true when the HA received a 30% budget cut as a result of the comprehensive spending review.

The real answer to nationally cleaner highways is not to take court cases against agencies that are already doing the best they can , but to target the problem at source - ie the ignorant tossers who throw the rubbish from their cars in the first place, and the equally ignorant manufacturers who use so much unnecessary packaging which subsequently becomes litter

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by eeyore

the thing is that while is laudable that you care - the highways agency isnt sitting on its behind doing nothing and thus all cases like this achieve is to move resources from one area to another.

so yes great the M40 in the wycombe area is now much cleaner than it was before, but the agency now has corespondingly less resources to clean another section - not to mention those resources wasted on dealing with your compaint and court case.

This will be even more true when the HA received a 30% budget cut as a result of the comprehensive spending review.

The real answer to nationally cleaner highways is not to take court cases against agencies that are already doing the best they can , but to target the problem at source - ie the ignorant tossers who throw the rubbish from their cars in the first place, and the equally ignorant manufacturers who use so much unnecessary packaging which subsequently becomes litter

Absolutely my sentiments too. Couldn't agree with you more.

[Paul mabbott]

Who pay for it? I would like to see a few people fined or, even better, sentenced to community service to clean the roadsides! The motorways are pretty appaling but so are lesser roads and streets; there is a mentality amongst some motorists that anything they don't want in their car can just be thrown out the window - why can't someone catch the so-and-sos?

Originally Posted by cleanhighwaysMan

Are you interested in doing something about getting our badly littered motorways and trunk roads cleaned up?

I have managed to get the Highways Authority to increase the resources spent cleaning the London end of the M40 by a factor of 6 times. It is now relatively clean compared to the horrendous state it was in the Spring.

Please take a look at my web site (non profit of course) to see how this was done and tell me what you think!

If the link does not work please google "cleanhighways" and you should find me.

You may want to adopt a piece of motorway or trunk road and take similar action.

[ashgale]

Originally Posted by eeyore

The real answer to nationally cleaner highways is not to take court cases against agencies that are already doing the best they can , but to target the problem at source - ie the ignorant tossers who throw the rubbish from their cars in the first place, and the equally ignorant manufacturers who use so much unnecessary packaging which subsequently becomes litter

it always annoys me when i find a discarded bottle or can in the country side (or anywhere else for that matter), the thought that someone has carried a full bottle around in their backpack all day, suddenly feel that once it is empty and weighs considerably less, they cannot manage to carry it anymore, has me mystified,

my description of these people is somewhat stronger than "ignorant tossers",

ashgale.

[cleanhighwaysMan]

eeyore, thanks for checking out the cleanhighways web site and your comments.

The clean up of the M40 was not achieved by taking resources from elsewhere.

The Highways Authority's contractor for the M40, UK Highways M40 Ltd, employ a sub-contractor, Carillion plc, to carry out maintenance and cleaning and to deal with motorway incidents. UK Highways are paid based on traffic levels - not on a cost plus basis.

What happened when I issued a Warning Notice to the Minister was that Carillion were given, what's a polite phrase, a "pep talk" following which their Incident Response Units started to do more cleaning - 6 times more cleaning in fact. No additional public resources were used. No resources were brought in from elsewhere.

The problem was that the Highways Authority were failing to get their contractors to carry out their contractual obligations. They are not doing the best they can.

Of course we should also work to deter littering in the first place. The Highways Agency could take on powers to issue litter fines but have not done so. I will be exploring why this is so.

Its a matter of working on a number of fronts. Using the law to get the HA to do their job is just one of them. But its one that can produce immediate results.

I have been joined by James M who has issued a Warning Notice to the HA over the section of the M25 between the A3 and M3. We just need 10 more like James to really make a difference.

Adopt a motorway near you!!

[The Woodman]

On the very rare occassion that an officer of the law spots and reports someone for throwing a banana skin/apple core/toffee paper out of the car window there is public uproar and a meal is made of it in the common press.

It's got a lot to do with public attitude, speeding is the same in my opinion.

I was once on a river bank almost directly under a road bridge when there was an almighty explosion by the side of me and I was spattered with glass from a bottle thrown over the bridge from a passing car. Two feet away from manslaughter makes you think! I'm sure the driver didn't know I was there but I'd have liked to have seen his number - which I couldn't from where I was.

If you consider the amount of litter on our roadsides and the mileage you do as a driver, how many times have you seen someone throw anything out of the window? Not many I bet. It'll be a similar probability for traffic cops. What I do find obnoxious is the jettisoning of urine in a pop bottle. Consider the poor person who has to deal with that.

In the States, many lengths of highway have sponsors, firms, youth groups, Rotarians and the like. I don't know if the members actually get out and pick litter - I wouldn't imagine that they were allowed to but would be interested to know.

Any action or initiative to reduce this blight on our society has my vote.

p.s. A very informative site and useful "how to" instruction with convincing illustrated results. Well done cleanhighwaysMan.

[Boddie]

I was once sat in a service station car park in Cheshire and watched a group of a dozen or so lads from Truro, who were attending an evening match at Liverpool. 2 of them decided to use the floor as a bin, for their empty McDonalds packaging.

I wondered over and told them, and their mates, if they didnt proceed to clean the entire car park the consequences would be severe and then sent them to the shop to get empty carrier bags to fill. They did exactly what they were told and apologised profusely when they had finished. I'll bet they'll never do it again, as they were thoroughly shamed, and probably a tad intimidated.

Not enough people in this country get involved and step in when they see this sort of thing happen. I always do, and its never got me into any trouble.

[Boddie]

Originally Posted by The Woodman

On the very rare occassion that an officer of the law spots and reports someone for throwing a banana skin/apple core/toffee paper out of the car window there is public uproar and a meal is made of it in the common press.

It's got a lot to do with public attitude, speeding is the same in my opinion.

I was once on a river bank almost directly under a road bridge when there was an almighty explosion by the side of me and I was spattered with glass from a bottle thrown over the bridge from a passing car. Two feet away from manslaughter makes you think! I'm sure the driver didn't know I was there but I'd have liked to have seen his number - which I couldn't from where I was.

If you consider the amount of litter on our roadsides and the mileage you do as a driver, how many times have you seen someone throw anything out of the window? Not many I bet. It'll be a similar probability for traffic cops. What I do find obnoxious is the jettisoning of urine in a pop bottle. Consider the poor person who has to deal with that.

In the States, many lengths of highway have sponsors, firms, youth groups, Rotarians and the like. I don't know if the members actually get out and pick litter - I wouldn't imagine that they were allowed to but would be interested to know.

Any action or initiative to reduce this blight on our society has my vote.

p.s. A very informative site and useful "how to" instruction with convincing illustrated results. Well done cleanhighwaysMan.

Why not get the prisoners on it. When my ex boss did time for tax evasion, and was in an open prison, he says he'd have loved to have put something back into society but they would not permit it.

Perhaps Camerons Big Society will get behind it

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by cleanhighwaysMan

eeyore, thanks for checking out the cleanhighways web site and your comments.

The clean up of the M40 was not achieved by taking resources from elsewhere.

The Highways Authority's contractor for the M40, UK Highways M40 Ltd, employ a sub-contractor, Carillion plc, to carry out maintenance and cleaning and to deal with motorway incidents. UK Highways are paid based on traffic levels - not on a cost plus basis.

What happened when I issued a Warning Notice to the Minister was that Carillion were given, what's a polite phrase, a "pep talk" following which their Incident Response Units started to do more cleaning - 6 times more cleaning in fact. No additional public resources were used. No resources were brought in from elsewhere.

so where did carrilion get the money to do 6 times as much work as before then - did their fairy god mother magic it out of thin air - I somehow doubt it.

At the bottom line the people actually doing the cleansing are being paid about 5.25 an hour for hard nasty and frequently dangerous work and are already working as hard as they are going to( I know having spent 3 winters as a team supervisor with sita gb while paying for my masters) each cleansing sweep of a given ammount of verge has a fixed cost calcuculated on the basis of Y man days.

to clean that ammount of verge 6 times as often will cost 6 x Y so while it is true that the govt wont have given carrilion anymore money after your complaint, the money for the extra work must have come from somewhere - and its extremly doubtful that carrilion took it out of their profit margin.

Probably all that happened is that after their "pep talk" they took resources from cleaning another part of the motorway network which no one was complaining about and devoted them to your bit.