Litterers Be Not Proud, but Freeway Trash Is Recycled

Dear Street Smart:

It appears to me that the majority of the trash along the freeways tends to be cans, bottles and often cardboard boxes, all of which are recyclable. As an avid recycler, I would like to find out if the freeway cleanup crews (the ones in the orange jackets who use those bright-orange garbage bags) recycle the materials that they pick up. It would seem to be a sensible and easy idea to implement as well as cost-effective if they are not already doing so.

Kathie Stebick

El Toro

This isn’t meant to make freeway litterers feel any better, but all those cans and papers they toss on the highways of Orange County are indeed recycled.

John Schilstra, regional maintenance manager for the state Transportation Department in Orange County, said all of the bottles, cardboard, cans, paper and other litter collected by Caltrans work crews is transported to a trash transfer station operated by a private firm in Anaheim. Employees at the transfer station then sift through the garbage to pluck out anything that can be recycled, he said.

All of the freeway trash is collected by people putting in time as part of their probation for criminal offenses such as drunk driving. Caltrans supervisors go out with crews of up to 15 people outfitted in orange clothing to do the work. Upwards of 150 people typically participate in the program on weekends.

Schilstra says the highway department’s maintenance division is greatly aided by the probation workers, who allow Caltrans to shift its own workers to such projects as tree trimming, landscaping, drainage cleaning and fixing potholes.

Dear Street Smart:

The recreational bicyclists, dressed in their “professional outfits,” deem it not necessary to stop at red lights, stop signs or to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks.

I have seen several accidents involving the poor tread-upon bicyclists, and, in each case, they had either gone through a red light or a stop sign. Needless to say, there were no looks of pity on bystanders’ faces and, in many cases, a knowing nod that there is justice after all.

The offending driver of the auto is usually sued and the insurance company will not fight, as the court’s sympathy is usually with the poor bicyclist who was just out to get some exercise.

People who must bike in traffic should stop at red lights, stop at stop signs and stop when automobiles stop at a pedestrian crossing to let pedestrians pass. Then they might live to ride another day.

Marilyn Straw

Corona del Mar

You have a very good point. But there are reasons that bicyclists sometimes run stops. They aren’t very good reasons, but here they are.

Cyclists invariably like to keep their momentum going, which means stopping as little as possible. For some, this means running stop signs and red lights, and playing chicken with bug-eyed pedestrians.

This sort of behavior manifests itself perhaps most notably during training rides involving packs of riders. In the zeal of the moment, the rider at the front will run the stop sign, and others will invariably follow, trying to avoid getting dropped by the pack.

While Darwin might be able to explain the behavioral reasons behind such civil disobedience, running a stop sign is running a stop sign, whether one is on a bicycle or behind the wheel of a Porsche. Plain and simple, it’s illegal.

It troubles me, however, that some might suggest that justice has been served by a cyclist getting hit. Not even the knuckleheads who roar through stop signs deserve such a fate. And not every auto-versus-bike accident is caused by the cyclist. Let me share a personal experience.

A few weeks ago, my wife and I set out on what was to be a six-day benefit bike ride through Oregon for the American Lung Assn. We were sticking as close to the road shoulder as possible to give cars a wide berth around us.

During a descent down a mountain pass, however, my wife was sideswiped by a lumbering recreational vehicle driven by an older gentleman who cut too close to the side of the road.

Jenifer was thrown into a guard rail, suffering numerous scrapes and bruises. Her arm wrapped around a post and will require several weeks of therapy before she’ll have full movement. But in many ways she was lucky. She came out of it with no broken bones, no internal injuries. Her helmet wasn’t even scratched.

Her bike didn’t fare so well. It was crushed under the back wheels of the RV.

Tending to my wife as an ambulance raced to the scene from some far-off village, I didn’t bother to look at the motorists trundling by. But I imagine there might have been some bicycle haters who nodded their heads knowingly.

For them, justice had been served. I just wish they knew better.