Among the great Texas legends is one awfully scary story. It’s about how the Don’t Mess with Texas research team braved the state’s highway to unearth the dirt on litter. Heavily gloved and armed with pickup sticks, they counted every fast-food wrapper, cigarette butt and bottle they could find, then interviewed thousands of Texans about their personal littering behavior. What they uncovered is frightening. And you thought the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was bad.

• While research indicates that roadside litter has dropped by 33 percent since 2000, one out of two Texans still admits to littering.
• Approximately 827 million pieces of litter accumulate on Texas roadways each year.
• Tobacco trash is the most predominant form of litter found on Texas roadsides, and that's no wonder—23 percent of Texas smokers admit to tossing their butts out the window. Depending on the surrounding environment, it can take a cigarette butt up to 20 years to decompose because of the plastic in the filter.
• More than one-fourth (29 percent) of all litter items are food- related—from fast-food items to candy wrappers.
• Litter can harm animals. They can get caught in plastic six-pack rings or choke on virtually anything not properly contained in a trash receptacle, such as gum or cigarette butts.
• You can be fined up to $500 for littering in Texas.
• Not an Inmate: Forty percent of Texans believe prisoners are responsible for cleaning up the highways. Only 6 percent correctly guessed paid contractors are the prime labor source, and your tax dollars are paying for it.
• If every litterer in Texas picked up just six pieces of trash every month, our highways would be completely litter-free.

For more scream-worthy scoop, dig in to our Research section.