Brits slam lack of effort to keep country’s roadsides tidy as clip shows dire state of busy motorway
BRITS have slammed the lack of effort to keep the country's roadsides tidy as a clip revealed the dire state of one of the country's busy motorways. Footage shared to social media on Saturday shows the side of the M62 at Junction 22 near Rishworth, Yorkshire littered with miscellaneous debris seemingly discarded by passing drivers. With overgrown grass choked with litter and half of the nearby road sign missing, blame has been split between National Highways[1] and those who have caused the mess in the first place.
The video is filmed from the area next to the hard shoulder as traffic thunders past. A warped ladder[2] can be seen abandoned on the grass nearby as the camera pans away from the road and towards a fence bordering a field next to the motorway.
The grass and bushes have clearly not been cut, and all manner of rubbish[3] lies tangled up in it, presumably having been discarded by passing drivers. Amongst the usual bags, bottles and wrappers lie even bigger chunks of plastic, including a large bucket. Pieces of what appears to be car bodywork can also be seen lying by the fence, possibly left over after an accident[4].
The camera pans up to the blue information board showing the number of miles to nearby destinations. Several of the middle panels are missing, making half of it unreadable. The clip was shared to social media on Saturday by anti-littering campaign group Clean Up Britain, with the caption: "No excuse.
"This highly littered and dilapidated sign on the M62 sums up National Highways. They're negligent at maintaining the motorways. "There's filthy and broken signs everywhere, litter splattered all over the network and corroded road signs obscured by overgrown bushes."
It has since received over 2,000 likes and more than 240 comments from disgruntled social media users keen to share their thoughts. One said: "It's shocking. "They aren't very good at the maintenance bit, but you would think they could at least keep the place tidy.
It's just indicative of a 'couldn't care less' attitude." A second commented: "Also says a lot about the people in this country who have no problem throwing their rubbish out on the streets and roads for other people to pick up. "An 'awful' lot."
Another wrote: "Shocking and repeated on motorways and dual carriageways all over the country. National Highways are an utter disgrace." A fourth said: "Those who dumped the rubbish should be found.
As long as they get away with it, it will keep happening. "Public needs to report people chucking stuff out of vehicles. It is unacceptable."
Another said: "It's so depressing, I'm embarrassed as to what visitors must think."