Editorial Columns Archive
Keep Louisiana beautiful
Allison Cryer, Staff Writer
02-03-2012
In 2011, Louisiana legislators passed a new law requiring teenagers in the state who are enrolled in driver’s education programs to learn the rules on littering.
The law took effect Jan. 1 and added litter education to the driver’s education course required before 15 and 16-year-olds can get their licenses. The law requires that at least two of the questions on the test be on the topic of the economic effects of littering.
A 2010 survey by Keep Louisiana Beautiful found that litter pick-up is costing parishes and local governments around $40 million each year.
The Senator who sponsored the new law, said the idea was to create an antilitter culture among youth that continues throughout life. Changing the culture may be the only way we will ever see a lasting impact on littering in Louisiana.
All too often when I am traveling, I see fast food bags, aluminum cans and plastic bottles lining our streets and highways.
I’ve seen drivers throw water bottles and even baby diapers out of car windows, as if our state is one giant trashcan. Is this what we want visitors to notice when they drive into our state for the first time?
I can still remember the days when wearing a seatbelt was not common culture. In fact, the U.S. National Highway Safety Bureau first required automobile manufacturers to install lap belts for all seats and shoulder belts for front seats in 1968. However, most Americans did not regularly use safety belts until 1984, when the first state laws were passed mandating seat belt use.
Today, seatbelt use has become second nature to most people. Experts say that young children are even encouraging adults to wear their seatbelts. I believe that abstaining from tossing trash out of the car window can become second nature, too. By increasing awareness in our youth, it is likely that we will soon see the same behaviors coming from children about littering.
Remember, when you throw trash out of your car window, someone else has to pick it up, otherwise, the garbage just sits on the ground, polluting our air and waterways. Studies have shown that it takes 450 years for a plastic bottle to biodegrade. That’s more than four times longer than the average lifespan of an American.
Starting with Louisiana’s youth is the best way to change culture and erase our bad habits. Seatbelts save lives and state litter abatement laws will help us save our planet.
In 1985, it was estimated that the state of Texas spent about $20 million annually to clean litter from highways. In 1986, the Texas Department of Transportation began a statewide advertising campaign called “Don’t Mess With Texas” to reduce littering on the state’s roadways.
Anyone in Texas can report a state of Texas license plate to the government for littering online on the campaign’s website. The citizens of Texas worked together to help prevent pollution in their state. Why can’t we do the same in Louisiana?
Today, the phrase “Don’t Mess with Texas” is prominently displayed on road signs on major highways, television, radio and in print advertisements. The campaign is credited with reducing litter on Texas highways roughly 72 percent between 1986 and 1990.
Let’s make “Keep Louisiana Beautiful” a nationally recognized campaign. We must all work together to preserve the waterways and throughways of our state. The only way we are going to eliminate these trashy habits is by making littering unacceptable in our culture. One would think that the hefty fines for littering would be enough to deter people from using the roadways as a landfill. However, I believe people care more about what others think of them than even their finances.
If we all hold each other accountable, for no other reason than to show pride in our beautiful state, the common practice of littering may soon be a thing of the past in Louisiana.
