If you find yourself with an insatiable urge to chuck something out of your car window when you are driving down the freeway, it had better be clear water or feathers that have somehow managed to fly off a live bird you happen to have in your vehicle.
Anything else you discard on the roadways in California is illegal and will garner you a $1,000 fine.
Even as our collective eco-conscious has seemingly risen to new levels of awareness with the introduction of more fuel efficient vehicles and greener fuels, clearly the same cannot be said for our personal habits when it comes to littering our highways.
Caltrans officials have seen an explosive increase in the quantity of refuse that litters the roadside each year - an increase that comes with a $60 million price tag to clean up.
In order to assist Caltrans with its Don't Trash California littering awareness campaign, I have created this Litter Quitter quiz.
1. What are the items most often found on California highways?
A) Fast-food wrappers B) bottles and cans C) cigarette butts D) tires.
While empty bottles and cans, most of which at one time contained an alcoholic beverage, are a huge problem for Caltrans, and fast-food packaging and the massive quantity of tire debris is significant, the biggest nuisance to those cleaning up our highways are cigarette butts. With many car manufacturers no longer including ashtrays in the design of their vehicles, far too many smokers have taken to the nearest convenient substitute - their open window.
2. The most popular household items found on the freeway by Caltrans officials:
A) Ladders B) mattresses C) refrigerators D) stoves
Caltrans officials estimate that they pick up at least 20 ladders and more than a dozen refrigerators and stoves off California's highways each month. However, the household items that manage to find their ways out of the back of our pickup trucks onto the pavement most frequently are mattresses.
How can you help so that you - Don't Trash California?
A) Carry a litter bag in your car; B) take along a portable ashtray if you smoke; C) pay the delivery fee for large household items; D) properly tie down items in truck beds.
The correct answer is - E) all of the above.
Michelle Groh-Gordy is the owner of InterActive! Traffic School Online at www.trafficinteractive.com , and writes a syndicated weekly column on driving for the publications of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
