Am I doing something illegal or am I just being a d!©k?

ManglerYJ

ManglerYJ

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Lexington, NC
So I'm push mowing my front yard going back and forth and every other pass blows clippings in the direction of the road. Motorcyclist slows way down and stops in front of my house to b!tch at me about this. After I stop my mower, remove my ear protection and ear buds (I like to zone out when I mow and listen to some Rise Against - perhaps it pur me in a combative rebellious mood)

"What you are doing is illegal..... hope you know that," he says.

"Mowing my lawn is illegal?", I reply.

"Yeah, you are blowing grass clippings all over the road"

"And...."

"Well it's unsafe." (Says the guy riding a Buell wearing a half helmet, sunglasses, a t-shirt, cut off shorts and flip flops)

"Unsafe for who?"

"It's unsafe to motorcycle riders"

"How so?"

"Well, if we hit our brakes on the grass clippings, we could crash."

"If that's the case, how did you manage to stop to talk to me?"

"You're being a d!ck."

He rides off, I continue mowing. So, that said - I'm not throwing grass clippings beyond the painted line. They may blow there, but I'm not putting them there. Wind is also blowing them OFF the road. Don't get me wrong, I'm not TRYING to put the clippings in the road, I'm just not willing to mow only in one direction with a push mower in 80 degree heat. Had he continued his line of questioning, I'd have asked for the particular statute that I am violating since "Mr Safety" obviously seemed to be up on all his Basic Law Enforcement Training.

So, is there an ACTUAL law that I am violating? If so, I'll stop doing what I'm doing, but if there isn't an actual law, I'll just continue being a d!ck.
 
I have always heard that it was a law but don't know for sure I ride a bike but as long as it isn't in the middle of a nice curve then it doesn't bother me I don't speed on straight aways [emoji39]

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk
 
anvilrubi said:
Yes it is illegal and can be deadly to motorcycle riders.
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Evidence please?
I call BS on "illegal".
I see very little way this can be enforced, at least in Mangler's situation.
 
This is covered under North Carolina general statue 14-399
 
Seeing someone filling the roadway with grass clippings is a pet peeve of mine. Depending on the amount, it can cause issues for motorcycles. I've had the back end of my bike get squirrelly because of it before. Now I've never been inspired to bitch anyone out who was doing either so there is that.
 
In SC, you can be ticketed for littering. ,you grandpa got 2 littering tickets at 87 years old. One for blowing grass clippings onto a road, the second for ripping up the ticket and throwing it at the cop.



I can't wait to be an old person.
 
illegal yes. Enforced not so much. Having been a motorcycle roadie for awhile I completely get the danger. Dude man had balls to stop. But from your point of view it didn't seem obnoxious. I do know some older folks who do it intentionally. One being an older relative. I asked him about it......I don't have to rake it if the cars blow it on down the road some......being polite I shrugged it off.
Wet grass on or off road will bust your ass.
 
Even if your not on a bike it's always a great feeling when you've just had your ride waxed and detailed only to go through a bunch of grass on the highway
 
ManglerYJ said:
"Well, if we hit our brakes on the grass clippings, we could crash."

"If that's the case, how did you manage to stop to talk to me?"

"You're being a d!ck."
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If that makes you a dick, I guess I'm a whole bag of dicks. Sounds to me like your just a logical person.
 
anvilrubi said:
This is covered under North Carolina general statue 14-399
Click to expand...

Here is the statute you reference:

§ 14-399

I tried to copy and paste it to my reply, but it put it over 15,000 characters.


Since grass clippings are biodegradable, it doesn't apply. I guess I'm still just a d!ck.
 
Dunno if it's illegal and I don't think your interaction made you a dick either. But when I see folks blowing grass clippings into the road, I just think they're a lazy bum...pick up after yourself or pay someone that can. Your grass, your clippings, your mess...clean it up.
 
We checked it out: Are grass clippings litter?

From this article:
Grass clippings, along with mulch and tree bark, are not considered litter by state statue, according to N.C. Department of Transportation Director of Communication Robert Broome.
“Grass clippings are not considered litter because grass clippings are an agricultural byproduct that is nontoxic and biodegradable,” he said. “… That is not to say that may be different for a local code.”

Duane
 
States that biodegradable material spilled during transport is exempt. Had a conversation on this subject with @ord.sgt.26NC this weekend.
 
Ron said:
In SC, you can be ticketed for littering. ,you grandpa got 2 littering tickets at 87 years old. One for blowing grass clippings onto a road, the second for ripping up the ticket and throwing it at the cop.



I can't wait to be an old person.
Click to expand...
You don't have to wait until you're old...
anvilrubi said:
States that biodegradable material spilled during transport is exempt. Had a conversation on this subject with @ord.sgt.26NC this weekend.
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In this case he was technically blowing the grass into his own yard and it just happens to spill onto the road. Could even argue the spillage was "during transport from one part of his yard to another..." lol.
 
RatLabGuy said:
You don't have to wait until you're old...

In this case he was technically blowing the grass into his own yard and it just happens to spill onto the road. Could even argue the spillage was "during transport from one part of his yard to another..." lol.
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Haha.. No not really just that he was an old lazy bum:flipoff2:
 
Off topic slightly but i just ran the bush hog along both sides of the road in front of my sub division in rural orange county. The road commission contractors mow it every few weeks but it irritates me when it gets a foot tall so i run the tractor over it in between their mowings. I didn't toss grass out in the road but I definitely threw the litter that was in the grass out in the road a few times (plastic bottles and beer cans go about 50 ft if I catch them. I just about put a plastic Mt. Dew bottle through a guys open window as he went by when the chopper picked it up. I usually clutch it when a car comes by but sometimes they surprise me. Rural 2-lane road, 45 mph limit bright orange tractor, head lights on, flashing ambers on, both sets of tires in the ditch going against traffic) and one asshat in an 80s vintage benz wagon with 2 bicycles on top (think Carroboro hippie ride) decided he wanted to pass a car with both coming at me with the yellow passing line NOT in his favor. The road has some crown and those bikes were flopping a bit as they cam at me. I thought oh sh*t, I'm dead. We went 3 wide. People are idiots.
 
benmack1 said:
Off topic slightly but i just ran the bush hog along both sides of the road in front of my sub division in rural orange county. The road commission contractors mow it every few weeks but it irritates me when it gets a foot tall so i run the tractor over it in between their mowings. I didn't toss grass out in the road but I definitely threw the litter that was in the grass out in the road a few times (plastic bottles and beer cans go about 50 ft if I catch them. I just about put a plastic Mt. Dew bottle through a guys open window as he went by when the chopper picked it up. I usually clutch it when a car comes by but sometimes they surprise me. Rural 2-lane road, 45 mph limit bright orange tractor, head lights on, flashing ambers on, both sets of tires in the ditch going against traffic) and one asshat in an 80s vintage benz wagon with 2 bicycles on top (think Carroboro hippie ride) decided he wanted to pass a car with both coming at me with the yellow passing line NOT in his favor. The road has some crown and those bikes were flopping a bit as they cam at me. I thought oh sh*t, I'm dead. We went 3 wide. People are idiots.
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Dude - where you live? There are some nuts that haul ass down that road. If I see I guy mowing blowing shit in the road (on purpose or incidentally) I'll slow down and wait. No worries. But you got road course wanna-bees hauling ass down that road. Now if they were on the road in front of your house...ain't nobody going 3 wide there.
 
From somebody that rides, grass on the road sucks and is sketchy as hell. The grass can make a bike really unstable. However he should have approached it in a different way. The guy is more dumb though for wearing what he is while riding.

There are some municipals that consider it illegal to cut grass into the road, but it doesn't seem illegal by NC statue, but its just something nice to not do for safety.

We checked it out: Are grass clippings litter?
 
There has been a big discussion on the Northern Davidson County Fakebook page lately. I can't stand people mowing into the road. It's trashy and looks like shit. I ride bikes, so I never really thought about it until that conversation. It does sound to me that you weren't really doing anything wrong. It's really bad when you see these ass hats mowing 10" high grass in the road. You know it's bad when you feel the washboard from it in your 4 wheel vehicle.
 
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