Lyn van Bronkhorst is right, "men are caring less and less about who sees them urinating along the roadside in broad daylight after they've parked by the wide of the road". Ms Bronkhorst of Mount Vincent shared that observation and her outrage in a letter to The Herald last week, and I and my wife have noticed the new freedom men feel in letting it all hang out. You're likely to see a fellow in the peculiar urinating stance by the side of the road at any old time, and even trees just a few metres away are too far.
But men do turn their back to the traffic. It's not as if we're waving the offensive bit in anyone's face, is it!
And since, as I ask in my column today, if drivers and their passengers can't see the offending member, where is the offence? A man's back is not offensive. The suspicion, even the knowledge, that he's having a slash cannot be offensive.
Indeed, going behind a tree does expose the offensive bit to those at either or both extremes of the road.
And peeing against the wheel of a car is something dogs do.
The fact is that when a man's gotta go a man's gotta go, especially if he's reached a respectable age, and so I'm inclined to the view the having a snake's by the side of the road is something that should be encouraged as a matter of road safety. The RTA could have those trailer-mounting illuminated signs proclaiming "Give the road all your attention - pee at will by the road". Or "Hey diddle-diddle, stop for a piddle".
No, a woman squatting for a pee by the side of the road wouldn't trouble me. It's not as if the highway is lined with public toilets.
Truly, I see nothing at all offensive in anyone urinating by the side of the road. Do you?
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