Why Blowing Leaves Into The Street Is Prohibited In ND

While the leaves haven't really started coming down from the trees just yet, they are due any day now. When the leaves start falling off the trees in North Dakota, it's pretty nice. Seeing all the fall colors in your yard finally makes it feel like fall.

You look out at your lawn, sip a pumpkin-spiced beverage, and take in the scenery. While that's nice for the first week or two, the leaves quickly go from being a beauty to a beast. They start to blow around, pile up, get tracked into your home, and become wet, sloppy, and sludgy.

You might want to get ahead of that problem by dragging out your leaf blower and shooing them out of your yard. While blowing them into your neighbor's yard or into the street may be awfully tempting, because hey, less work, it's definitely something you shouldn't do.

Have you ever wondered why it's illegal to blow your leaves into the street in North Dakota? I was genuinely curious, so I looked it up. According to the city of Mandan, it is against nuisance and property maintenance codes to do this in most North Dakota cities.

Why?

It's considered a hazard to traffic. The leaves can cover the lines of the road, making it difficult to see the lines and turn lanes. Not only that, but cities like Grand Forks and Bismarck also have an ordinance against blowing leaves into the roads because it can cause issues with stormwater drainage and plug up storm drains.

There you have it; now we know why blowing leaves into the roads isn't allowed in North Dakota.