• rockstarmode@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Maybe this question should also request the responder’s general location, because I imagine the situations vary substantially.

    I’ve lived in California for most of my life, and we go on frequent drives between LA and SF, usually a few times a year.

    In the 80’s and 90’s bugs would cover the front of our vehicles and the windshield would be difficult to see through even with wipers and washer fluid. We’d actually have to stop to manually scrape them off.

    In the 00’s and 10’s we noticed that we’d get basically zero bugs on a long drive, and that sparked many conversations about California environmental law.

    I just got back from a drive up the coast and I can happily say that we’re back to insane numbers of bug strikes on the highway. Just north of Ventura I drove through a cloud of large bugs that hit like rocks and instantly covered almost my entire windshield. This situation has been noticably turning around since COVID, which I think is a good thing

      • madjo@feddit.nl
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        5 days ago

        What’s with the downvotes? Corsicanpuppy is right, that’s how you abbreviate decades.

        The apostrophe denotes the removed 19 and 20, as in 1980s => '80s and 2000s => '00s.

  • RealSpiderLane@lemmy.zip
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    4 days ago

    This morning on my way to work. (Rural Ohio here.)

    I’ll tell ya a better story. Years ago, my band at the time were on the road, heading to a show around Elkins, West Virginia. We were somewhere in the vicinity of St. Clairsville, OH, when at like 70mph, a giant locust flies in my drummer’s window. We thought it was a hummingbird at first, but the thing is panic-flying around, hitting us in the face, etc. I’m still amazed we didn’t wreck.

  • madjo@feddit.nl
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    5 days ago

    I’ve been wondering the same. It’s been years. I live in western Europe. Could be an example of evolution, insects that fly higher survive more often, or climate change, there’s fewer insects about.

    It used to be a big issue, now the biggest issue is bird poop and lice excretions.

  • chloroken@lemmy.ml
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    6 days ago

    Insect populations are affected by human urbanization.

    In other words, the area you live in has become more developed over the last few decades and has become a poorer ecosystem for insects.

  • CrayonRosary@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Every day, over and over and over… I have to keep actual glass cleaner in my car and spray the windshield occasionally—like at stop lights by sticking my arm out the window—because not even the “bug remover” windshield washer fluid works well enough. You need something strong like ammonia to loosen all the protein.

    Note: I don’t live in a city.

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      I am positive that the bug removal windshield washer fluid has never actually worked on bug splatters. Not even if you spritz them immediately when they happen, and even if you did you’d go through two gallons of the stuff per day. It’s all marketing; I’m pretty sure they just take the regular stuff and dye it green instead of blue and charge three times more for it.

  • rmuk@feddit.uk
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    6 days ago

    UK here. It’s just not a thing any more. I regularly drive - or am a passenger - on a ~200 mile round trip and insect strikes just don’t happen.

    That said, I recently drove from the North of England to the South of France. Almost as soon as we crossed the Channel we were instantly getting insects splattered on the windscreen to the point we had to refill buy some bright pink no-nonsense washer fluid at the next services. So I assume some counties are more responsible than others with their use of pesticides.

  • TomMasz@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    A couple of years ago, but I don’t drive all that far most days. It sure seems like there are fewer and fewer. For instance, last summer, I saw fireflies for the first time in over a decade. This can’t be good.

  • illeagle@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Every time I take a trip out of the city.

    Generally, I NEED to clean it every 300 miles due to not being able to see through the sheet of bug-goo covering my windshield.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      I remember it being like that decades ago - a long car trip might have required more stops to clean the windshield than to get gas. Not in a very long time though. Now I do get at least one hit per week but I don’t have to clean it even as frequently as I get car washes.

      Where are you that there are still bugs (other than mosquitoes)?