If you have ever wondered why Oregon is so beautiful, perhaps this is the main reason. This is the litter sign posted throughout the state, which displays a fine that may seem unreasonable, but residents and travelers alike respect and obey. Imagine if in California, the fine was raised from $1000 to $6250...would that detour your from littering on the streets and highways? For a state that boasts its "eco-friendly" atmosphere, it is sad to see that everywhere you turn there is trash and garbage spewed across our great state. According to the internet, Caltrans spends approximately $15 million a year to remove litter from the highways. Quite possibly, if the fine was increased, Caltrans would spend less time picking up our trash, and more time fixing our highways. Ok fellow bloggers, what do you think?
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Adopt a cleaner California
If you have ever wondered why Oregon is so beautiful, perhaps this is the main reason. This is the litter sign posted throughout the state, which displays a fine that may seem unreasonable, but residents and travelers alike respect and obey. Imagine if in California, the fine was raised from $1000 to $6250...would that detour your from littering on the streets and highways? For a state that boasts its "eco-friendly" atmosphere, it is sad to see that everywhere you turn there is trash and garbage spewed across our great state. According to the internet, Caltrans spends approximately $15 million a year to remove litter from the highways. Quite possibly, if the fine was increased, Caltrans would spend less time picking up our trash, and more time fixing our highways. Ok fellow bloggers, what do you think?
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I love this! this is such a great idea for people not to liter but i am surprised California didn't come up with this idea first.
ReplyDeleteI know I wouldn't litter if its going to cost me over five grand!! Ive always thought about how we use punishment instead of rewards though... what if we gave out rewards for not breaking the law. example; no littering citations for 5 years, the state will send you a $100.
ReplyDeleteexample; no speeding tickets on your record, registration is half price...
IDK maybe if wouldn't work, but then againnnn maybe it would :)
Anything is worth a shot, I can appreciate positive incentive as much as the next guy. My only real concern with that is the enforcement of the law to the degree of being able to recognize those who have been law abiding citizens. The man power alone would cost a fortune. If there was a way to have a rewards system that reinvests back in the people who helped out, and went out of their way to be visible in the positive influence.
DeleteWow, that's intense. However, is it really the amount of money that detours people from littering? Because yeah the idea of a $6250 ticket is horryfying, but the idea of a $1000 ticket is scary too. And Shane I think you raise a good point however I don't know if that would be effective across the board, so it would be cool if they could possibly do both and appeal to two sides of human nature.
ReplyDeleteHmmm.. very interesting. I will have to say that the amount would act as more of a deterrent, but ultimately its the enforcement of the law that it boils down to. Very similar to a parent threatening with punishing a child, but if there is no follow through there will be no respect for the punishment. Ultimately, if we just reinforced the current 1K law I am sure we would see a change in the litter.
ReplyDeleteI think this approach can and should help the problem we have with littering in California. Oregon is a beautiful state and their fines for littering, obviously makes a huge difference. I agree, California needs assistance or else it's only going to get worst. Jewel, I think this was a great subject to blog about.
ReplyDeletehi
ReplyDeleteHi Jewel,
ReplyDeleteI think we need to have a similar sign here in California. Maybe then our state can have less litter and can still maintain to be beautiful. If we implement a higher fine for littering some people might think twice before littering but others still might litter. We need more law enforcement to implement this law. Nice post.
I must agree a sign such as this will definitely steer people into thinking twice about littering. We do have these signs in California but never have I seen the sign for a 6500$ fine. Signs like this one would definitely help prevent littering. And your right with clean roads we can put workers to more important use such as road ways. good post Jewel.
ReplyDeleteI dont think this will deteer peole from littering at all, because if they didnt see the sign or they dont see a sign within their eye level, people are going to litter. when i used to live in oregon something i noticed was that there was maybe one or two pieces of trash ever hundred miles. people took pride in their state and didnt want to litter and i dont think people really take pride in california and just do as they please, and think that someone else like the prison, work projects, clean up crews etc are going to clean up after them. or people throw out the saying "dont panic its organic"
ReplyDelete