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Why all the abandoned cars along NC interstates?


blueheronNC

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I've now lived in NC (Triangle) for 3 months and have noticed something that seems peculiar and singular to this state. Wherever my travels have taken me in NC, I see so many cars just left abandoned along NC interstates. Some cars seem old, but others are pretty new.

What's the deal? I've never noticed this before in other states (CA, FL, GA, SC, NY, AR, you name it). Why are so many cars dying here? Why are they left along the roadside? Does NC have a policy of abandoning vehicles that promotes this type of behavior? Will I have to raise my children to play "spot the abandoned car" to pass the time when we go on day trips?

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I have seen a number of broken down cars on the roads here, but I am not sure they could be considered abandoned as they are usually removed next time I travel through the area. Automobiles these days, even junked ones, have too much value for someone to leave on the side of the road.

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I guess NC is just plagued with cars that break down all the time! :wacko:

Alot of poor folks can't afford to have them towed...and if it's a repeat break-down, some of them would just rather walk away from it, I guess.

And the state (and some cities) take a good while to get around to impounding/removing them, I suppose.

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You know, I feel these occurences of cars being abandoned are related to the Hispanic influx into our area. Many times now when I see a car broke down on the highway there are hispanics with the vehicle. And in the hispanic areas of Winston you see several abandoned cars on the side of the road. I think because most of the immigrants into our area are very poor that they can't spend the money needed to buy a reliable vehicle.

Not trying to single out a group here, just saying what "I see."

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I've now lived in NC (Triangle) for 3 months and have noticed something that seems peculiar and singular to this state. Wherever my travels have taken me in NC, I see so many cars just left abandoned along NC interstates. Some cars seem old, but others are pretty new.

What's the deal? I've never noticed this before in other states (CA, FL, GA, SC, NY, AR, you name it). Why are so many cars dying here? Why are they left along the roadside? Does NC have a policy of abandoning vehicles that promotes this type of behavior? Will I have to raise my children to play "spot the abandoned car" to pass the time when we go on day trips?

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I have seen a number of broken down cars on the roads here, but I am not sure they could be considered abandoned as they are usually removed next time I travel through the area. Automobiles these days, even junked ones, have too much value for someone to leave on the side of the road.
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Usually you'll see some sort of sticker and date put on the vehicle by a cop if it is sitting on the side of the road as mentioned. If a cop makes a stop and it has passed a reasonable amount of time for the car to have been dealt with since the sticker was put there-it will be towed. My guess is that perhaps other states do not have as generous a grace period as we might have here, -and perhaps why it might "seem" that NC has more abandoned vehicles along the side of the road.

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There are definitely a lot of cars left on the side of the highway here. We noticed it when moved here 3 years ago. I'm pretty sure it's because there's a longer period of time that a car is allowed to be left there. If we started towing cars left longer than 48 or 72 hours, it would greatly clear up what we see.

My wife jokingly refers to the shoulder lane of 440 as the "park & ride lot".

The other thing I've seen a lot of along the side of the road... ladders that have fallen off trucks.

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I actually decided to count the abandoned cars tonight travelling from Raleigh to Winston-Salem. I took 540 from the Six Forks interchange to 40 to US52 before exiting on Clemmonsville Rd. In that strecth, I counted 29 cars abandoned on both sides of the road. And since it was dark, I may have missed some in the Eastbound direction!!

I was shocked! Most of the cars were pre 1995.

:shok:

thought I would add this... going to my office in Hickory this morning, I counted the abandoned cars on 40 between exits 192 to 125. I counted 9.

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I can't imagine why you have this perception, as a frequent traveller it seems a little silly to me, no offense intended, but the real authorities here would be truckers who have travelled more than a few routes. Off the top of my head I would say what stand out to me in this regard is hands down Texas, and also one of the places you mention, NY, or more accurately the city metro area (you don't see much in the actual city itself).
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