Hi once again.

In this article I am going to express a gripe I have with the general motoring public (this includes "professional" drivers as well as our tourist class driver and all that fall in between) and it has to do with Rest Areas. More accurately the abuse of them.

Now most all of us at one time or another have had occasion to make use of these facilities -- each facility has been put up through an expenditure of public funds and they are not cheap to construct.

Those of us who drive professionally need these facilities not only for the personal relief they provide but as well as a place to get the rest we are required to take at the times we are by law required to take it.

I'm surprised that many of these facilities are still open when I look at the disgusting behavior of some of the people who visit them. In many of the ones I have visited that don't have a full time maintenance staff, doors are ripped off the stalls, seats are ripped off the toilets, holes are punched in the walls and the list goes on (it's a very long list). In the ones that are maintained by an on site staff there is untold amounts of disgusting graffiti on the walls and unused as well as used toilet paper and paper towels (though most have gone to air dryers for this reason) strewn all over the floor. In either one I have found that guys (as these are the facilities I use) seem to have a total inability to lift the seat when urinating and have a tendency to hit just about everything in the stall. The fact that most don't wash after is another topic of disgust.

Now I don't know about you who are reading this but for myself I would hate to visit the homes of the people who do this sort of thing.

One of the first things that come to mind is "young vandals" but I assure you that though vandals they definitely are, all are not young nor is this activity bounded by any age, race, colour or religion. Though some may like to jump on that bandwagon when it comes to laying blame.

When I encounter this sort of activity I report it to whatever officials are in charge. Unfortunately most who witness these acts say nothing unless it is to bitch to others about this or that Rest Area being closed or the crazy costs involved in maintaining these properties. Well look no further than yourselves for you are no better than the ones who do these acts if you say or do nothing. These people cost you money every time they do there little nasties and we all know it costs you three dollars for every one spent on cleanup.

The country doesn't seem to make any difference either. In Canada the provences have just started putting up Rest Areas and in the short time they have been around they are in no better shape and for the very same reasons.

So the next time you pass a Rest Area that has "closed" across the sign maybe the closure wouldn't have been necessary if the vandals hadn't been allowed to get away with their discussing acts.

I will grant you that all of these facilities are not the most modern and some provide little more than the most basic of needs but everyone of them (except for the ones patroled by "Lot Lizards" and others of the criminal ilk) provides a relatively safe place where one can get off the road for a time out or to heed "Mother Natures" call. It would be a lot harder job for me and those in my profession if they didn't exist.

And yes I just came out of one in Montana that this sort of thing had been done to.