Being Lazy With Your Grass Clippings Is Dangerous and Illegal

Not only is it lazy and dangerous, but it looks bad too.

This is not a joke. This is not an embellishment. Loose grass on roads is incredibly dangerous for motorcycles. In 2019 an Illinois woman was in an accident caused by grass clippings in the road, which made the pavement slippery. The 59-year-old woman died two days later. Her husband described the accident to a WEEK-TV in Peoria.

Cheryl Zeglen was riding with friends in Bureau County on Saturday. Her husband Thomas Zeglen says he hit the grass clippings, started to lose control, slowed down suddenly, and he says that’s when Cheryl crashed into him.

Zeglen also said grass on the road for a motorcycle is like a car on ice, it's just as slippery and dangerous. He also vented his frustration with the slap-on-the-wrist fine that can be issued to property owners who do not clean up the loose grass caused by mowing. He's right, the minuscule fine doesn't justify the cost of human life, a minimum of $50.

So what is litter defined as, according to Illinois law?

"Litter" means any discarded, used or unconsumed substance or waste. "Litter" may include, but is not limited to, any garbage, trash, refuse, cigarettes, debris, rubbish, grass clippings or other lawn or garden waste...

Here's what Illinois' Environmental Saftey (Litter Control Act) states,

No person shall dump, deposit, drop, throw, discard, leave, cause or permit the dumping, depositing, dropping, throwing, discarding or leaving of litter upon any public or private property in this State, or upon or into any river, lake, pond, or other stream or body of water in this State...

YOU might not consider grass clipping to be litter but, by the state's definition, it is. And, as you read at the beginning of this article, loose grass clippings on pavement poses an incredible danger to motorcyclists.

JB Love is ½ of  Q98.5's Lil Zim & JB In The Morning, weekday mornings from 5:00 a.m. to 10 a.m. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram.