Youth Take To The Ditches To Clean Up Alberta Highways

Each year, on the first Saturday in May, Volunteers across the province take to the ditches to make Alberta's highways cleaner.

The event was cancelled last weekend due to fires in Fort McMurray.

High River RCMP Sergeant Brent Hawker says they'll be out patrolling and looking for unsafe drivers.

"Common sense would dictate that on a single lane highway that you slow to 60 KM/H when passing people working on the roadway. On those double lane highways if you move to the inside lane you can maintain highway speed, but we always encourage people to reduce their speed."

He says that aside from speeding tickets charges can be laid for dangerous driving depending on the situation.

Volunteer Organizer with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Michael Shields says you'd be surprised at the amount of trash they find on our highways.

"You're surprised, you get into the ditches and realize there's a piece of garbage there and a piece of garbage there but once you get in there you see all the coffee cups and fast food wrappers and whatever else that has been thrown out or has blown out of the back of trucks, it adds up pretty fast."

He says the province suggests those cleaning the highways collect trash the size of a chocolate bar wrapper and larger.

Shields says job number one is the safety of their volunteers.

"We have protocols to follow where adults are the ones close to the highway and the youth are all in the ditches, they're not allowed to be anywhere near the vehicles at that point."

He says he hopes the youth take away and learn that garbage belongs in a trash bin and not on our roads.