Unintended Consequences - Beer Cans

Do well-meaning laws lead to LITTER (and other stuff)???

My son was out of town on a business trip and I had driven over to his place to take the mail from his delivery box and place it in the house for safe keeping. It was about 8 AM on a fairly warm Sunday morning. I was driving back home with the window open and was almost to the intersection for Rt 197.

A small car turned off Rt 197 and the driver dropped a can of Budweiser out of his window on to the road with a splash of beer. He was aware that I could view his actions, but obviously littering was not his main concern. I seem to recall that as a young fella we might drink a beer in the car and keep the cans to discard later in the trash.

I live on a fairly busy street here in the Big Town of Savage and take a daily walk down to the BToS post office to pick up mail from my post office box. It's not a long walk, but most Saturdays or Mondays, I pick up at least one discarded beer can along the way.

I ain't the smartest guy in the world, but given the young fella throwing the almost empty beer can out near my son's house and all the discarded cans here in the BToS, I have to assume that folks still drink beer in their car. The difference between my youth and today is that now they probably down that beer pretty quickly and chuck the can out the window ASAP.

It occurred to me that today most states have 'Open Container' laws, where it is illegal to have an open alcohol container in a vehicle. I'm sure legislators thought an 'open container' law would reduce/eliminate alcohol consumption in vehicles and that's why they passed the law.

But if we really think about it, this may be a case of a law being a bit redundant; thus leading to other problems or exacerbating those already existing. We have drunk driving laws with extremely low blood-alcohol limits. Are open container laws that increase roadside litter also necessary? Or is it just another case of legislators going over the edge in response to Main Stream Media supported vocal support groups.

The books are likely full of well-meaning laws leading to 'unintended consequences'. It might help if legislatures would contemplate the side effects of new laws before rushing to pass them.

JD

PS - This post is not intended as a discussion of drinking alcohol and driving, it's commenting on the unintended consequences of a specific law.

PPS - The next thing to ponder is autos without ash trays and the increase in cigarette filter litter. No matter the laws passed, folks are still gonna smoke, but how do we stop ignorant smoking drivers from throwing cigarette butts/filters out the car window??? Most smoking drivers seem to have this habit and it's one I really don't understand!!!