THE plea made in last week's paper about drivers discarding rubbish on the A92 East Fife Regional Road is not something which is limited to this dual carriageway.

It is true that the stretch between Crossgates and Lochgelly is particularly stricken by items which clearly are just thrown out the windows of passing cars.

Plastic bags are probably the most common item that is just discarded carelessly.

These blow onto the side of the road and start to pile up after a week or two.

The A92 , however, is not the only road that suffers in this area. The Cuddyhouse Road, between Cowdenbeath and Kingseat, is frequently left stricken by food cartons and plastic bags but from time to time such things as tyres have also been just dumped at the side of this road.

In Cardenden the Dundonald road suffers from people too just throwing things out of their vehicles.

Clearly this is not something which is particular to the roads and streets of the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area.

But the problem is that too many people just seem to forget that there are bins provided for depositing these sort of items in places people will be going to, which if used would ensure that the nice countryside was protected from this blight. Or why not take it home.

The fly-tipping that has been taking place in the area is a real problem issue with such things as mattresses just dumped at the side of the road. But that is very much a separate issue. That is premeditated breaking of the law whereas the problem affecting our roads is simply carelessness and laziness by motorists and their passengers.

The hard work of the Community Payback teams keep the A92 in some sort of order but really it is something that should not really be happening.

And the country roads do not have the Payback teams working on them quite so regularly so can have the rubbish blight affecting them for longer.

The next time you feel inclined to throw something out the car window just think what it is doing to the local environment.