If you're stuck in traffic, you can't always hold it, especially if there was an accident. You can sit for HOURS and HOURS and HOURS. Been there, done that. Those bottles are a lifesaver for such instances. And, no, NEVER EVER would they be thrown out the window!!!

Have you ever been to the rest areas where the bathrooms are LOCKED?!?!?!!! I have. REALLY annoying!!!!

Ever drink too much coffee and not have a place to stop for 100 miles but have to go? You can't stop on the side of the road and walk into the woods in the USA so... you use a bottle.

It's not lazy, disgusting or gross - it's a way to cope when you run into unexpected things.

BUT

It's totally disgusting that they'd throw them out on the side of the road.

Truckin,
Are you sure what you saw in Oregon were pee jugs?
When I first started driving about 15 years ago, I noticed a lot of jugs in and around areas where vehicles could pull over. I mentioned that to my trainer and he told me those were jugs of water that were put there by volunteers for motorists who's engines were overheating.

Oregon also offered free coffee at night in rest areas. Pretty cool of Oregon to do that.

To begin, let me say I am a clean, hard working fellow who is completely aware of the importance of sanitary living conditions. I will also state I have been motoring for quite a few years.

Things are not what they once were.

In the not too distant past houses were not equipped with indoor plumbing and the old out-house in the backyard was relied on. In those glorious days, if you needed to relieve yourself after dark, or during inclement weather you used what was known as a "johnny pot". This was about a two gallons, white, porcelain coated, little bucket with a lid. They were used often, and cleaned daily. Their use is not unlike how many truckers choose to handle their liquid waste. I, myself, am not going to get up, get dressed, and walk a 1/2 miles across a truck stop parking lot in the cold or rain when a "johnny pot" will do.

Now, how the waste is disposed of becomes the sore spot. Yes, many drivers are too lazy to take any steps beyond tossing it out the window. YUK! There are better, cleaner, and, more environmentally friendly ways to handle this.

At a minimum dispose of the contents of the jug in the dirt, preferably in a low traffic area. Then throw the jug in a trash can, or, rinse it out for future use.

Also, in the not too distant past, it was normal procedure for drivers to pull into a wayside, or, wide shoulder and "cool the tires". There are still some places to accomplish that, but, more and more LEOs are finding humor in busting a driver for indecent exposure if they even think they were wizzin' on the roadside. That is a sex crime and you are labeled for life as a sex offender. People that see that could care less what the circumstances were. Here comes the old "johnny pot" into play. Takes care of the need with no risk of hassle and you're on your way.

"Go to the bathroom to do your business", I hear the self righteous say. I say you're right, if there is a bathroom available, and, convenient. The last time I checked there were no port-a-potties on the GW bridge, or Cross Bronx Expressway. Can you imagine trying to pull into any big city truck stop after 5:00pm and parking, just to take a wizz? Right!

Some other bodily waste can be better timed, or delayed for a bit. However, when the eyeballs are floating, ya' gotta' do, what ya' gotta' do.


Oh, just so you'll know. Some driver's save their "trucker bombs" until they get some place they really hate. Ohio, Kaliphornia, and the Peoples Republic of the Northeast probably are favorite trucker urinals, for sure.

Yeah I don't shun the whole idea of using a bottle or a cup or whatever. Sometime there simply isn't a toillet when one is needed most.

I agree with your points made 100% and appreciate the fact that you aren't one of the people throwing them out the window....

Then again I go back to my previous post. We have to find a way to reach the one's that do litter their bottles since the internet is probably way above what they have the mental capacity to understand.

Yes I'm positive. Every one of them had various hues of yellow liquid in them....they weren't for overheating vehicles...I wish it were that simple. Watch the sides of the roadway, they aren't just in Oregon, they are everywhere on every highway. Haven't been down one yet that didn't have a few.

I agree with you. I myself have been in the middle of nowhere and just pulled over to 'squirt the dirt'...I also see the use of a bottle as being necessary. Just don't like the truckers out there that don't know how to properly dispose of them that's all....

I think you are right. The majority of the drive by whizzers aren't going to be on a site like this.


I buy all my drinking water in gallon jugs from Wal Mart. $0.64 a gallon. And the jug is recycled for other purposes when/if I need it. In trucking there are plenty of times when you need a place to stop and there aren't any. I don't drive by bomb with a jug tho!

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Rarely is it "laziness".

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Several years ago (I am not sure when), a woman broke down along I-5 in Oregon. I believe her car just over-heated. Someone stopped to offer her "help". She was found dead several days later. Her husband started a Foundation that placed water in gallon jugs along the highway in areas that vehicles were likely to over-heat. I am not sure if he is still involved, but volunteers took over placing the jugs of water. Sadly, some drivers have been exchanging "bad" water for the good.

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YeAH!
Ain't that a real pisser?
All it takes is a few bad apple holes to ruin a worthwhile project.
Thanx for the history lesson on how those jugs of WATER came to be placed along the highways, especially I-5, in Oregon.
I didn't know that.
Stands to reason though, finding answers here just seems to come naturally. Thanx to you, I actually LEARNED something today. Will wonders never cease?