My Biggest Pet Peeve ... There oughta be a law.

[NSASarge]

First, I live in a very rural area of northern central North Carolina. The county where I live has 3 stop lights. The phone book measures 8.5" x 6" and has 86 pages. There were no power lines on my section of the road where I bought the property 15 years ago to build our house. Yet I'm within reasonable commuting distance to Burlington (22 miles), Greensboro (33 miles) and Raleigh (60 miles (a bit far)). What really chaps my biscuits is people that blow grass into the roadway when they mow their yards. My father would have tanned my behind if I ever did this and we lived in a farming community. It just about stops my heart when I come around a bend and find the road completely covered with fresh wet green grass. Some day I'm gonna find out if this is even legal. What happens if this grass causes a motorcyclist to skid and loose control of their bike? Are the property owners responsible? Can I bag my grass and dump it in the street? (NO I wouldn't.) Do you see the problem here? I'm not talking about a few stray blades of grass. I'm talking about people that mow foot high grass in the ditches and blow enough grass onto the road so you can't even see the pavement underneath!
AAARRRGGGHHH! !

[Kevin B in Illinois]

around here the problem is mud from tractors on the roads near field entrances. We also have grass on the roads when people and county road workers bush hog the ditches , but it usually disappears in a day or so. Just have to be cautious living in the sticks. I know I always stop the tractor and wash the tires off before getting on the hard road (just kidding). It is a jungle out there and being on two wheels, we have to be safe and watch out for all the obstacles that can cause us harm.

KB

[hank43]

It's not just NC and Ill guys, in California it has become the norm for gardners/lawnkeepers/and even home owners to purchase those noisy 2 cycle leaf blowers and just blow all the grass clippings and other lawn trash out into the street. Doesn't matter if it's an average neighborhood, or a street with million dollar homes on it, residential or commercial, it all gets blown into the street. It really looks bad now, since California is in a drought, brown lawns (new law passed, $600.00 fine if you are caught with water running down the gutter from your property), so a lot of people just don't water at all. It just looks like crap, and all these lawn care companies do the same thing..... and get paid to do it!
I frequently see these guys blowing trash from commercial parking lots into the street......we will soon become the next worn out city with broken down, boarded up buildings, streets that haven't been paved in years, yet the 54 cent a gallon gas tax still gets collected, and is in part, supposed to be used to keep the infrastructure (Roads and bridges) intact
A long ride, like that to the yearly rally or even one of our two or three day rides takes me away from all that so all is not lost....

hank

[Tonyvdb]

After our winter gravel is the biggest threat to motorcycles. The city dumps a lot of it on the roads over the winter and it takes them till the beginning of June to sweep it all up so stopping or turning can be very dangerous. We have to be extra cautious and eyes on the road.

My biggest pet peeve has got to be people who hull junk in the back of their pickups and it flies out all over the road!

[mountainman]

I'm with ya on the grass on roads. What you are seeing is no thought or concern for others well being - selfishness, its pretty bad any more. Same thing when there is a snow storm approaching and people go in and clean out store shelves. There is no concern if you need a loaf of bread because I want it all for myself, no compassion. Anyway the roadway thing will very quickly turn into a negligence issue with lawsuit on the part of mower operator and possibly land owner. It would be the same for mud or materials coming from vehicles. If something like grass on road were to happen that caused myself a severe issue, Pictures and a crash scene investigator and a lawyer.