this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2025
96 points (93.6% liked)

Ask Lemmy

32355 readers
1176 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] RealSpiderLane@lemmy.zip 1 points 49 minutes 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 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] elevenbones@piefed.social 2 points 4 hours ago

Yeah, im always covered in lice shit too 😥

[–] SaturdayMorning@lemmy.ca 1 points 20 hours ago

Few days ago. Went birding in a wetland conservation area. Tons of birds. Megatons of bugs.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 1 points 20 hours ago

Two days ago.

[–] RDAM_Whiskers@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 day ago
[–] rockstarmode@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca -3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

80's and 90's

'80s and '90s

00's and 10's

'00s and '10s

[–] madjo@feddit.nl 1 points 6 hours 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.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 88 points 2 days ago (6 children)

You've activated my "thing". No one seems to have noticed that the bottom of the ecosystem just fucking dropped out.

When I was a child, dad taught me to always clean the windshield when we stopped for gas, and sometimes in between. I have not done this in years, easily more than a decade.

We drive hundreds of miles of back country highway to pick up my kids. Talking the South here, mostly Alabama which is 77% wooded. Nada.

Screw it, I could tell stories for an hour, too depressing to go on.

[–] doc@fedia.io 37 points 2 days ago

Took the words out of my mouth. I used to plan for a car wash after every trip through the countryside. Haven't done that going on 15 years now. Amazing how few people notice.

[–] helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)

A part of it is how car aerodynamics have changed.

My work car has a flatter windshield and gets a lot more bug splatter than my personal car.

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

This is definitely true. I usually drive rentals and totally noticed how safer tilted windshields are.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

While we're at it, I have a bug/air deflector on the nose of my Subaru and I can report that it does indeed appear to work. My truck, conversely, is just a rolling brick and every bug in the county seems to wind up on its windshield. On the Scoob, they splat into the front bumper instead. Most of the ones above that presumably sail right over the roof, except the really big ones.

Bug strike volume overall in my area has not diminished noticeably since my childhood (i.e. it's still maddeningly incessant) but that sort of thing appears to be quite localized and I don't have to go too many miles before I wind up in areas that are eerily free of bugs.

In other news, my primary method of transportation is a motorcycle for much of the year and chiseling the little bastards off of your helmet daily -- or multiple times per day -- is just a fact of life.

[–] cleanandsunny 12 points 2 days ago

I’ve definitely noticed. When I was a kid in the South, lovebug season was a whole thing. I got drafted to wash the car constantly. Last time I was down there during lovebug season driving around, I didn’t see a single one. No splats, no scraping bugs out of the grill, nothing. No fireflies either. It is depressing. I’m a city girl now, but I still keep a densely planted organic flower garden. Even with huge patches of native flowers, I see very few pollinators, and it really bums me out. But I do often see bees sleeping in my flowers, so there’s that.

[–] tdawg@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

I drove from San Diego to Boston with my buddy a couple years back and it never even crossed our minds to wipe the windshields the entire trip

[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 6 points 2 days ago

No, no. You're not alone. I've noticed too.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Pringles@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 day ago

The front of my car is pretty splattered with bug remains.

[–] Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world 31 points 2 days ago

They’re 70-80% gone here since around ‘20, anecdotally as someone who’s driven the same highway corridor day and night.

They still get hit by the vehicle, but there is a profoundly apparent absence.

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Almost every day. Rural living.

[–] Alaik@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

I mean i live in a rural area (The whole state has less people than the city i grew up in, and my town has <2k people) and the bug splatter is way less than growing up in a top 10 US city as a kid in the 80s-90s.

[–] Fletcher@lemmy.today 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, I was going to say - when was the last time this didn't happen?

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I have some roads which would be swarming with bugs at certain times of day barely have any now. A lot of the country roads by fields just don't have the insect populations they used to around, I assume due to the massive amount of insecticides they use.

[–] Fletcher@lemmy.today 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, I've never had to deal with swarms of insects splattering against my windshield. We've never had that, here. But a few here and there every time I drive.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Montagge@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago

Nothing like it use to be though

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Live on a farm, I mean, it's summer, the bug-murder season. This is like asking "when did you last breath oxygen?"

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Is there a word missing in that question?

[–] JoeDyrt@lemmy.ca 1 points 20 hours ago

Probably meant “smashed” instead of “splashed“.

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

"Splashed" can mean to destroy mid flight I think

[–] chloroken@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 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.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

I recently drove half a continent. Anyways, probably 10-20 years. Idk, I don't really remember it happening much except maybe when I was a young child

[–] andrewta@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Last week.

But cars tend to have more of a slant to the windows then they used to, so less bugs smack and splatter.

[–] alsimoneau@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm driving the same car since 2006. It's gone way down.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Well a car from 2006 isn't going to stay pristine forever so it's no surprise it's gone down over the past 20 years.

[–] alsimoneau@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago

That makes no sense.

The aerodynamics haven't changed.

[–] oatscoop@midwest.social 7 points 2 days ago

I drove through miles of a literal swarm of cicadas a few years ago and 99% of them didn't splat on the windshield. My roof rack was coated with bug guts, though.

[–] rmuk@feddit.uk 3 points 2 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.

[–] zxqwas@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Last time I drove at highway speed: Thursday around 19:40

[–] toxicbubble@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (3 children)

sadly, global warming is killing them. I remember years ago they'd splatter my windshield every commute

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That, but I'd put pesticides and environment devastation to more blame.

[–] ahornsirup@feddit.org 6 points 2 days ago

Monoculture farming in particular is absolutely horrific for biodiversity.

[–] alsimoneau@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

Light pollution is also a big one. Impacts migration, reproduction and predation.

"Sadly" is a massive understatement. There will be devastating knock-on effects.

[–] TheWeirdestCunt@lemmy.today 10 points 2 days ago

Not really on my windshield often but my bumper and mirrors are covered within a few miles of driving. Maybe it's an aerodynamics thing?

[–] CrayonRosary@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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 1 points 1 day 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.

[–] FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.org 4 points 2 days ago

Like 2 days ago.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 5 points 2 days ago

I live near a metro so its not as noticable but yeah 50 years ago you would get some. More significantly you did not need to go far (you could reach it in a day trip. say within 2 hours away) and you would have your windshield plastered. Basically out were you could see some farmland. Even in the 90's though going to school downstate you did not see much and Every so often I have trips across states and even down south and stays crystal clear. I will note besides insect decline there is a thing were more airodynamic vehicles don't get as many. The air flows around and the insects are more likely to survive. That being said just going camping and such im amazed at how few insects there are. I used to get eaten alive.

[–] magnetosphere@fedia.io 4 points 2 days ago

It’s been years.

load more comments
view more: next ›