(4)
Please keep your butts inside
More than six million Canadians smoke.
So, of the one in five of us older than 12 who Statistics Canada says light up, how many do you think habitually toss their cigarette butts out the car window?
Enough that our roadways are carpeted with cigarette ends. Enough that "butt flickers" are a pet peeve of many. And not just here.
Last month on a highway in Centreville, Utah, a female driver threw a cigarette out of her window, which upset 50-year-old Michael Rakes, who was travelling on a motorcycle nearby. Although untouched by the cigarette, Rakes, whose 10-year-old son was a passenger on his motorcycle, drove up alongside the woman's car and yelled at her.
The vehicles collided, the motorcycle went down. Rakes died as a result of head injuries he sustained. His son, to whom he had given his helmet, suffered minor injuries.
Citing lack of criminal negligence, the local county attorney's office declined to pursue criminal charges against the 32-year-old female driver. Littering charges, which carry a $302 fine, are pending.
In Ontario, throwing a cigarette from a vehicle falls under the littering statute of the Highway Traffic Act (Section 180) and carries a $110 fine.
In Calgary, recent bylaw amendments saw littering fines increased. With its $1,000 fine for tossing a lit cigarette from a vehicle, Calgary rivals Washington state's $1,025 fine.
In California, the government subscribes to the "He who makes the mess cleans it up" philosophy, with courts empowered to order first-time violators to pick up litter for eight hours, plus fine them between $100 and $1,000.
Yet despite the fines, court-ordered garbage patrols and endless public service ad campaigns, flickers persist.
One study in the scientific journal Tobacco Control reported that 4.5-trillion cigarette butts become litter every year worldwide. Obviously not all those smokes are tossed from car windows, but mobile litterers certainly contribute to the problem. Filtered cigarettes contain synthetic polymer cellulose acetate, which is not biodegradable. Discarded butts leach chemicals into the environment, posing health risks. Anyone who's witnessed the shower of red-hot sparks that lights up the night when a burning cigarette hits the roadway is aware of the fire hazards smokers cause when the world becomes their ashtray.
Reports exist of forests, medians, even countrysides ignited by cigarettes tossed from passing cars, as well as tales of vehicles and belongings set ablaze after cigarette butts have blown back in through car windows. Butt flickers have been known to inflame – sometimes literally – bicyclists and motorcycle riders who've been struck by burning cigarettes.
Granted, ashtrays are no longer standard equipment in many vehicle models. Smokers must pay extra for optional smoker's packages or buy aftermarket ashtrays.
For the environmentally conscious smoker , biodegradable ashtrays are available. And for buttheads who puff away yet – for some unfathomable reason – have an aversion to using ashtrays inside their own vehicles, exterior-mounting ashtrays do exist. Ultimately, there's no excuse.
Woman's win over Honda opens door to mileage claim free-for-all
Video: Chevrolet Sonic a small car with a big car price
These four affordable, mid-size SUVs are worth a look
