Something I’ve always wondered about. Shoes commonly seen laying in the road. Old beat up shoes. And even some new looking shoes. But I seldom see other clothing items, like belts or t-shirts. This question was asked by Tom on a recent podcast. But the guys provided no answer. Any theories to explain all the shoes laying on and along-side the road?
The ones I’ve always wondered about is the number of BBQ’s and ladders I see on the side of the road.
EDIT: and mattresses
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Here in newyork I see this frequently, too. And I often see tires on the highway.
We have a lot of homeless people in Newyork and I’m assuming random people throw their used items out the window when they see a homeless person?
Granted, the homeless doesn’t want those items and just kick them to the side of the road.
hmm … possible I suppose. I must say, it has never occurred to me to throw my unwanted apparel out the window when I see a homeless person. My theory is that folks put their shoes on the roof and forget to put them back inside before they drive off, the shoes fall off at the next corner or bump, and shoes are the heaviest & most sturdy apparel items, so they stay where they fall.
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Your theory makes a lot more sense than mine.
3 years ago I put my cane on top of the car roof and totally forgot. I then drove off and the cane fell off the roof. A guy behind me ( I didn’t see this ) picked up the cane and tracked me down.
When I pulled into a parking lot, the fella brought the cane to me and I thanked him.
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Nice of you to thank him. I’ve lost coffee I had on the roof but never shoes or a cane.
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I haven’t noticed that here.
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I don’t remember seeing many shoes on the side of roads here, TN is pretty strict on littering (with fines etc), so you see very little of it, mainly on the very back roads and or interstates and then not much… I guess we take pride in our city’s & state and don’t allow it here (Memphis area may be different)… There are also lots of adopt a road, or length of road where people tend to keep it clear of trash, plus that is always good work for inmates, they keep it cleaned up pretty good to… So the little bit if trash that gets thrown out the window, or flies out of the vehicle with open windows or beds of trucks, gets cleaned up fairly soon…
Now customers/peoples car floors, that is where all the freaking trash is, just thrown on the floor, picked up once every blue moon or so… gezzzz…
I told my wife I am glad she never had a truck like mine to drive when she was still able to work, it has 13 cup/bottle holders and I guarantee she would have had everyone filled with mostly empty glasses, mugs, anything that holds liquid you can drink out of and if possible double stacked… Drove my OCD backside freaking nuts… 
Me, I always used the same hot/cold cheapo thermos thingy for like 20 years every day… lol
Mrs JT fills up the door pocket on her Odyssey with trash. The only time it’s empty is when I pick the trash out.
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I live near an Air Force Base and a Sergeant on a motorcycle was driving ahead of me and his smart phone fell off his belt. He apparently did not notice as he kept going. I stopped, pick up the phone, but he was long gone. I took it home, removed the MicroSD Card and checked it for photos and sure enough, there were photos of him in uniform (selfies…) along with lots more stuff. I brought the remnants of the phone (it was toast…) to the base and since I now knew his name and rank, they were able to return it. He contacted me later to thank me as the SIM card with all his information (texts, contacts, etc…) as well as the MicroSD Card (photos, music, etc…) were all still working and he put it all in his new phone…
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Over the years, I’ve encountered objects such as a hammer and a rake lying in the roadway, most likely having fallen from a work truck. But, I’ve never seen shoes lying on the pavement.
But, over the years, I’ve lost count of the number of mattresses I’ve seen on the side of interstate highways. These were undoubtedly from people who wanted to “save money” by not having their mattress delivered by a commercial truck, and instead thought that they could hold onto the mattress while it rode on their car’s roof.
Heh heh, on Saturday driving on a two lane a guy was driving kinda slow. He had two mattresses tied on his roof but must have missed tying the front diwn. They were up in the air about three feet like a sail. Hope it didn’t have far to go. I told my wife the guy needs a trailer.
Had to move the kid 150 miles from his apartment to school. His rental van never came through but I brought my trailer just in case, with Sides up about four feet. We had that thing packed to the top and both cars full but we made it. Hardly still room for a cup of coffee. Never lost anything. Got a picture some place,
Lots of fun stories about people transporting things precariously. Many years ago I used to sit in a parking lot for lunch reading the paper etc and watching people leave Menards. The best was a guy that had half dozen sheets of rigid foam insulation tied to his roof with one rope across the middle. Didn’t even make it out of the lot before they all broke in half and were blowing around.
Saw another guy going down the highway with a mattress similarly restrained and folded in half from the wind force. Must have been real comfortable after that abuse.
Then there were the mental giants attempting to hold a queen sized box spring on top of the car with only their arms- going down the highway. Should have put the strongest guy in front 
It was returned to component form about a mile down the road…
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Some people deliberately throw shoes out of vehicles to signify the end of a journey or chapter.
Welcome to the forum and that is definitely a good different perspective, thanks for joining in and hope to hear more from you… And if you have any automotive advise/help or questions, please feel free to post away…
What people/culture?
Asked myvife, from China. She say “Chinee never waste shoe.”
They use everything until absolutely worn out.
I’ve been told by police that a pair of sneakers tied together with the laces are tossed over the electrical lines and means there is someone near to sell you illegal drugs.
The rapture.
I goggled "shoe tossing over telephone wires and all the reason stated previously come up: links to organized crime, the border of gang turf, commemorating the death of a gang member or a non-gang member who lived in the area and others…
I graduated from high school in 1970 and many of us tossed our old gym sneaks over phone wires at the end of the year when we had to empty our lockers… Merely a right of passage…
When we were younger, we only sang ditties like, “No More Pencils, No More Books, No More Teacher’s Dirty Looks!” as we ran out of school on the last day…
But that doesn’t have the fear factor of all of those other reasons, which I doubt have any actual facts to back them up.
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