I don't know why but someone with a tractor and shredder was mowing down a lot of Bluebonnets in the center media on 2818 around the Budweiser distribor. I thought that was illegal. Who is the ones that are sending these mowers out there?

Sorry for the typo, I did not see where I could edit my spelling. (Distributor)

Good, keeps the morons from creating a safety hazard when they pull over to take pictures.

And no it is not illegal to mow or pick them.

It may not be illegal but why would they do that when normally no mowing is done along the highways during Bluebonnet season.

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I thought that was illegal. Who is the ones that are sending these mowers out there?

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Rule #1 of MyBCS posting: be angry.
Rule #2 of MyBCS posting: have zero fact checking.

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/director_staff/public_information/pr032602.htm

http://www.snopes.com/legal/bluebonnets.asp

Rule#3: Just make up stuff about local businesses if you don't actually know anything, and if they suffer for it, then "I guess I was right to question them"

I posted before you that I realized it may not be illegal but why do they do that. I am not talking about a local business, this is TXDot or the city.

Because they can

thread over.

People pulling over in front of the large distribution center to take pictures of little Johnny poses a huge safety risk. I'd bet the felt it wasn't worth the risk and mowed them off.

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Good, keeps the morons from creating a safety hazard when they pull over to take pictures.

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This

How exactly is people pulling off to the side of the road creating a safety hazard? I haven't heard of too many accidents involving this sort of behavior.

Lines of cars with a ton of people, including small children, walking around the side of the road with cars traveling by at a high speed? Doesn't seem safe to me.

It's a distraction to other drivers. It's also dangerous if someone has a blowout and loses control.

I had a friend get a ticket for sitting in a parking lot playing with the hydraulics on his truck because it was a distraction to other drivers

Well ok. I guess, at least around here, I've never seen "lines of cars"...only a few parked well off to the side of a road.
As for it being a distraction, isn't that more an issue with the drivers allowing themselves to get distracted?
Maybe I'm missing something.

Yes it is a problem with the drivers, but since most drivers have the attention span of a 2 year old....

Ah. So there it is then.

Doing anything on the side of a highway outside of an emergency situation is still not a good or safe idea.

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Well ok. I guess, at least around here, I've never seen "lines of cars"...only a few parked well off to the side of a road.
As for it being a distraction, isn't that more an issue with the drivers allowing themselves to get distracted?
Maybe I'm missing something.

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Take HWY6 southbound towards Hempstead. A couple of miles out of Navasota, there's a huge field on the right that is full of bluebonnets. Not sure who owns it, but there are lots of people parked on the shoulder of the road in the evenings so they can gain access (there are always 4 or 5 at 5pm, so I'm sure that number grows mid-evening).

When I passed by on Good Friday, there were at least 20 cars parked, with others stopping to pull in and park (one guy was basically trying to parallel park, all but stopping in the slow lane of the highway).

Nothing like endangering the lives of your family for a few bad flower photos (love the people out in full-sun conditions, facing directly into the light). Even if you're being safe and corralling your kids and whatnot, there are enough idiots driving that I'd be afraid of being wiped out while getting out of or into my vehicle.

Have there actually been any accidents from this behavior?

Not exactly the same situation, but a good article.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Experts-urge-safety-when-trying-for-seasonal-4302763.php

Sounds like they're more worried about snakes and errant bulls then traffic mishaps.
I'd be genuinely curious re how many actual accidents occur as a result of wildflowers then something more obvious like, say, texting (which people seem less inclined to condemn then bluebonnet gazing).

Flyrod,

As a (formerly) regular wildflower seeker (as in putting in 2-300 miles in a season safariing about), the worst offenders are more in Washington County, and more along 290, and worst on Saturdays & Sundays.

What seems to happen is that folk drive from some place, and they see cars parked, so they park there. This continues until a large crowd is formed. The larger the crowd, the more it accretes, too.

Which is often amusing to some of us, as they are often only a couple minutes' more driving from far better vistas, untrampled by boors or pockmarked by bottom prints.

Worst to me (and many of similar bent) is that these folks will blatantly and flagrantly trespass; compounding that with leaving trash, damaging fences and the like.

Which is why some of us will track down near-anonymous FM & County Roads for a peaceful, beautiful, vista. To capture that perfect and impermanent essence of Spring in Texas in memory and photograph and leave only (careful) footprints.

________________________________________________________
Standing guard, even sitting behind a desk

Occupational hazard of my occupation just not being around

I love bluebonnets, but I think mowing them is less damaging in the long run. You can still see "butt prints" in patches for years otherwise.

Most of my Bluebonnet plants have the see pods turning brown but have not opened. Is it safe to mow them at this time and get a good crop next year or should I wait until they open?

Look at the former regulars on this old thread. And it was a scant two years ago.

^ See what you did.