Some people are just mindless scumbags.....

Thanks for coming to my rescue once again alok! As I have said, I too am a smoker and if I said I have never dropped a cigarette butt out of the car window I would be lying. But flicking a cigarette out of a moving car window and then having it land on a baby in another car is not just a freak occurence; but it also makes me think twice about dropping another cigarette out the window. What a shame it had to be a scenario like this that makes me think consciously about the possible outcome of my actions. There was no reference to the "flicker" copnerned being reprimanded which is a shame because this was atrocious and it would have been a positive step to inform them of what can happen as a result of these actions. Thanks for responding bhai.

Always a pleasure James.

BTW if you did not flick the butt out of the window, and if it did get dropped out, ever wondered what happened to it after that,went somewhere with the wind, some barefooted person got a tatoo on his foot.

I know alok, I know. Myself and many other smokers really do need to think more intelligently about what actions like this can cause.

Till very recently i would have shared the same with you James, maybe i still should because i do not know the outcome of my actions then.

The thing is rkrish that many a smoker obliviously flick a finished cigarette all the time! It is situations like this one though that point out that it is not just the littering aspect of it all that is of concern; but that people can end up hurt in the process as well. In my country there are many campaigns about flicking cigarettes out fo car windows because they can start bush fires. This example could be an interesting case in point to use to educate others even further as to the dangers. Thanks for the response.

It doesn't seem like they caught the person responsible at all and it was the driver of the car noticing the smell of something burning and then realizing there was a lit cigarette in his child's lap! The poor little kid. I do still think that this would be an ideal contaxt to use for campaigning against flicking cigarette butss out of car windows! The littering angle doesn;t seem to have made much difference. Thanks for the response steflane.

I AM a smoket SaintAnne and this is one heck of a wake up call to see what can happen from throwing a cigarette out of the window! It doesn't appear that the person who threw the cigarette has any idea whatsoever so will undoubtedly continue to behave this way in the future. Maybe a licence plate initiative like you are wondering about could be another proactive way to stop things like this happening? People just don't think that hard about possible consequences and look what happens. Yes, that poor baby and how distressing for the Dad too. Thanks for the response.

We have huge issues with this in Australia and potential bush fires too Irish. When it is summer and really, really dry the slightest spark can wipe out hundreds of acres of bush and houses etc in a matter of hours if the wind is also strong! I havge been guilty of dropping cigarette butts out of the window myself so this is one heck of a wake up call for me also. I will most certainly make every effort to be more responsible in this regard now. Starting a fire is a very serious concern, no question; but reading about this incident with an unsuspecting baby is horrible. Thanks for the response.

Thanks for BR!

No wuckas Irish! After all, you DID mention Taco Bell!

I'm a smoker and it's illegal in my country to throw cigarette butts too samijo; but many people still do it regardless just like you have said. Maybe if stories like this article could be shared more prolifically then people might think twice about doing it next time. The poor baby. Thanks for the response.

I agree gladys. It would have been traumatic for the Father driving the car too. People just don't think about these types of consequences. Thanks for the response.

Everyone that does this KNOWS in the back of their mind that it's littering but how many would even consider that something like this could happen? Maybe if they were made more aware of cases like this a good number of them would stop doing it! I agree that there should be harsher penalties. It's tough to police though! Thanks for the response dawnald.

I am sure there are laws in most places about things like this LittleMel; even if they are just littering related. It must be very hard to enforce these laws though because people are doing this while in a moving car. This was a horrible outcome and I wish they would make more noise about it so people that do it can really think long and hard from an angle other than littering. Thanks for the response.

It IS horrible msmell. I am an Australian myself but haven't been home for some years now. I never realized that they were removing ashtrays from cars being built though?? This is ridiculous actually and you are certainly right in what you have said and people will just flick their butts out of the window for sure now. Thanks for the response.