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I do it. No problem for me.
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Hey Tom, Without getting into this whole anti-smoker thing (I used to be a 20 a day man) just because they make they ashtray smell is no reason to throw them out of the window. The same is true of my kids, they make the inside of my car a living hell type of environment but they dont get thrown out of the window onto your windscreen!!
Why not wait until you get to a garge and empty the ashtray there? The very fact that youre smoking in the car makes your car smell (not to mention your clothes breath etc)
Come on Tom bite the bullet, get the patches out and give it up youll fell ssssooooooooo much better
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>>but they dont get thrown out of the window onto your windscreen!!
But tell me you haven't been tempted !
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I can never get the window wound down enough in time.
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Hey Im no saint guys, of course Ive done it but you no what...Only when there is nothing behind me or Im going so slow that I can put my arm out and down and drop it
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I was once told by a fuel company that one of their fuel tankers was set on fire like this in the 1980s, the cigarette was sucked into the air cleaner, where it sat glowing and making all the paper element smoulder, then when the vehicle stopped, the air cleaner burst into flames, luckily, the driver extinguished it with the fire extinguisher the vehicle carried.
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42 people died in the Mont Blanc tunnel in 1999 when a cigarette end was sucked into the air intake of a Belgian lorry carrying flour and margerine.
I cringe every time I see a ciggy end getting tossed from a car window. Perhaps a campaign showing the vitrified remains of some of the poor souls in the Mont Blanc tunnel might make people pay attention? Maybe a picture card set you can collect with every pack of cigarettes?
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TheGrocer, Erm, no actually. I disagree.
I was a pack a day smoker for 20 years until Jan 2004 when I bit the bullet, got the patches, and gave it up!
Do I feel much better? No! Do I feel better off? Yes! Is SWMBO happy? Yes! Do I want to start again? No! Would I advise others to give up IF THEY CAN? Yes! Would I ran the message down their throats? No! Is everyone who whinges and whines about smokers aware of how much more tax they would pay if the Governemnt didn't raise billions of ponds a year in tobacco revenue? NO!
As for chucking cigarettes out of car windows, yes I did it because I didn't want the car to smell. People always commented that the inside of the car did not smell of cigarettes beacuse I never smoked when the car was stationary and always had the window open at least an inch when smoking and travelling so that the venturi effect drew most of the smoke, and therefore the oudour, from the car.BTW, I never use air fresheners in the car so the smell was not masked.
The above method did tend to discolour the headlining in a small area near the back of the frnt area but this was treated once a year with a proprietary cleaner.
When I chucked the fag ends out, which I now admit was not my most social of acts, I was always aware of what was behind or beside me. Having been a motorcyclist and been on the receiving ends of cans, plastic bags and cig ends I know how unpleasant it can be.
As for your anaology of throwing kids out of the car, it's hardly a fair one but I have to say if it was me then out they would go as I can't stand the things. Whne I first met the wife and she mentioned having kids I said that if she wants kids that's fine... Drop me a line when they're 21!
Oh BTW, TheGrocer, it's not only booze that makes people smell badly. I regularly meet people who think its OK to smell of Booze in the afternoons, or kiddie sick in the morning because they didn't have time to change thier clothes in the morning after child puked down their back and they thought they'd "sponged it all off"!
/rant off.
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"it's not only booze that makes people smell badly"
That should, of course, read : it's not only cigarettes that makes people smell unpleasant...
Apologies for the various other spelling and grammatical mistakes. Can't help it when in "rant mode"
Note to self: read own messages BEFORE posting them!
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Nice one tyre tread. Your car doesn't smell so never mind if 10 minutes after you pass the central reservation is ablaze.
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I admit that in my youth that would not have even entered my head but latterely, as with most people, with age comes the realisation of responsibilty, that was a consideration when disposing of the end of the cancer sticks! i.e. to avoid such a posibility rather than cause it :-)
And, until you mentioned it, I was not aware of the phallacy that cause of the Mont Blanc tunnel fire was a cigarette end. Where was that reported?
I read that: "The part of the hearing concerning the Volvo truck which was involved in the tragic accident of March 24 1999 in the Mont Blanc tunnel was concluded on Monday with a closing statement by Lars Lidman. "After carefully considering the two theories presented by experts Vigier and Martin, it is our opinion that Vigier's theory of the cigarette butt is completely inconsistent with recorded facts and that an air filter fire as the cause of this accident is impossible. It is our firm belief that it was an accidental oil leakage that caused the fire.""
Above is extracted from : www.tnn.co.uk/Manufacturers/plonearticle.2005-02-2...8
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I read that: "The part of the hearing concerning the Volvo truck which was involved in the tragic accident of March 24 1999 in the Mont Blanc tunnel was concluded on Monday with a closing statement by Lars Lidman. "After carefully considering the two theories presented by experts Vigier and Martin, it is our opinion that Vigier's theory of the cigarette butt is completely inconsistent with recorded facts and that an air filter fire as the cause of this accident is impossible. It is our firm belief that it was an accidental oil leakage that caused the fire.""
That was Volvo's counter statement to the expert witness Vigier's view that it was an air-filter fire that caused the blaze.
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Ah. Moderators hat on.....
Just realised that the Mont Blanc trial is still ongoing. Probably best this element of the thread gets dropped for the moment.
No Do$h - Alfa-driving Backroom Moderator
mailto:moderators@honestjohn.co.uk
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some prat once threw out a cigarette in front of me..it went straight into my motorcyle helmet..
i panicked ....i managed to stop and get out the cigarette....
i then caught the car driver up at the next set of traffic lights........i left him well aware of the consequences.....and a bruised body :) i hope he learnt his lesson...............as for me...well,,, now i drive cars only..i REALLY appreciate bikers ...and i hate people who throw any rubbish out of thier windows..
.
\"dont shoot the messenger\"
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It's a Health and Safety issue.
It's a lot safer to chuck it out of the window than to fumble around for the ashtray and then to keep ckecking that your fag has gone out!
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Every unexplained fire is blamed on a cigarette but. The Kings Cross fire was, despite there not being a shread of evidence as in the Mont Blanc tunnel fire. Blaming cigarettes for all fires without a provable cause is like blaming every act of violence on racism, to defend the charge is indefensible and an admission of guilt.
I never eject a dog end with a vehicle behind me, especially if it is a biker. It is just a waste of time, have you ever tried to hit a biker with a cigarette but at 50mph? Virtually impossible, the way they weave about all over the place. Much more effective to let them close up on you and jam the brakes on hard. You can bung in a whiplash claim too.
As for giving up, with the lousy pension I've got waiting for me I can't afford to live beyond 65 anyway, which is why I've recently changed to those cheap high tar fags.
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Get caught doing it in Australia and expect to wind up in court or worse.
Oz (as was)
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I never do it in Oz, you end up trapped in a bush fire!
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i do it, i know i shouldn't, but i dont if anyone especially a bike is behind me. i know it's not nice but it's a habit i've got. ...cheers...keo.
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Never do in the car what you would not do at home. Chuck rubbish on the floor, put feet on seats, chuck cigarettes out of the window..
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you obviously haven't seen my home :)
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I read often, only post occasionally
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I have to be careful with this subject, because I start getting sarcastic at people, then mark tells me off :o
I just can't understand the blind spot that people who throw butts out the window have though.
There are two possibilities I think.
1) they're an ordinary, generally upstanding member of the public, who usually wouldn't think of littering (regardless of any consideration of their litter possibly causing a fire). If you're one of these people, I don't imagine that you'd throw sweet wrappers out the window, why do you think it's OK to do so with a butt?
2) They're a social misfit who doesn't see why other people shouldn't have to deal with their filth. In which case, there's not much use concentrating on the butts, since they'd throw pretty much anything out.
So, concentrating on that first group: what is different about a cigarette butt that makes it OK, in their mind, to chuck out the window?
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If you need to ask then you wouldn't understand.
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its a right hand thing, if they moved the ashtray to the right i would use it and did in the last left hacker i owned. i am not trying to excuse it i know its wrong but at least i admit it...cheers...keo.
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I am not a smoker and I won't get into any debate about the social issues generally. However, it is a fact that discarded cigarettes cause hundreds of fires, both in buildings and in the open air. Many people have died at their own hands, whilst smoking in bed and falling asleep.
Thousands of smokers couldn't care less where they discard their butt ends. Thrown out of cars, or on the floor, it just doesn't matter to many.
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Until recently (after I gave up smoking) I always thought that the filters were paper and therefore biodegradable but I was recently assured they're a synthetic material and whilst they will degrade it is a slow process.
I openly admit it was not a good thing to do but couldn't see the problem at the time. Maybe a case of none so blind as those who do not want to see?
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I swear ....
{So I noticed, hence the deletion. DD}/i>
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This could be a radical solution but hows about driving when in the car, rather than smoking?
Driving along with a burning piece of paper in your hand doesn't seem that smart to me. But then inhaling the foul smelling stench voluntarily doesn't either so I doubt smoking and common sense go hand in hand.
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How about not smoking in a car at all? Never understood the desire to press ciggy lighter in and wait for the metal to glow hot or use a lighter and then fumble to light ciggy whilst driving a lump of metal at 70mph. And then sit there with a lit piece of paper and leaf which can easy drop from mouth into lap, again at 70mph.
And then throw the remains out of the window. I'm all for the Victor Meldrew sketch-shove a pile of butts through your letterbox and see how you like it.
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Couldn't agree more with runboy. I'm not anti-smoker, just anti-incar smoker. There is nothing that p***** me off more than watching those on the way to work drawing heavily on their fag, one hand on wheel, considering this perfectly safe. Meanwhile, women in the north east are being fined by the police for eating apples in their cars (!) and using your mobile while driving is banned. Personally think the same should apply to smoking - it's a distraction, and one which should not be allowed. And that's before you've even begun to consider the millions of butt-ends thrown out the window each day...
Rant over :)
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I've also seen people take their hands off the wheel to change gear, turn the radio on, operate switches on the dash, apply/remove the handbrake, all sorts of silly things.
Give us a break. We are heading for a totalitarian state now, I buy my cigarettes legally, with legally earned wages. In doing so I pay a massive amount of tax. Go and moan at the druggies who commit most car crime to obtain illegal substances and then drive with them affecting their ability. More people are killed now through illegal drug driving than drink driving.
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I buy my cigarettes legally, with legally earned wages. In doing so I pay a massive amount of tax.
I can't agre with what Nomag has said about banned smoking when driving, but this is a different question altogether.
You may buy your ciggfies legally, and you may smoke them while driving legally, but if you throw your butts out of the window, then that is NOT legal. You are littering.
I'm not sure that the massive amount of tax you pay makes any difference to that.
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Who said that I threw them out of the window? It was more about ban this, stop that, regulate the other.
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Who said that I threw them out of the window? It was more about ban this, stop that, regulate the other.
That's why I said 'if you throw them out'.
The title of this topic is 'throwing cigarettes out'. I do see that you were answering someone elses call to ban altogether though.
If you don't throw them out, I have no problem with you smoking. It's your car, you can make it smell if you like ;)
It's when the smokers pollute my environment as well as their own by littering that I get annoyed.
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Although a smoker, I'm inclined to agree with Runboy too.
Mainly on the grounds that smoking in car rapidly produces stains and smells that are very difficult to remove. It doesn't take much effort if you want a fag to find somewhere to stop for five minutes and you can stretch your legs at the same time.
.....
Do you smoke after sex?
Don't know, I've never looked.
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>>There is nothing that p***** me off more than watching those on the way to work drawing heavily on their fag, one hand on wheel, considering this perfectly safe
Aside from a conviction that you should have something to say about what other people do or do not do, I assume from your statement that you always drvie with two hands on the wheel. No window winding, radio changing, sctracting, picking, fiddling, resting your hands anywhere else. In fact, fromt he second your can begins moving until the moment it stops your hands remain on the wheels at all times.
Yeah right.
Oh, and find a way to express yourself which doesn't annoy the swear filter or me.
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Aside from a conviction that you should have something to say about what other people do or do not do, I assume from your statement that you always drvie with two hands on the wheel. No window winding, radio changing, sctracting, picking, fiddling, resting your hands anywhere else. In fact, fromt he second your can begins moving until the moment it stops your hands remain on the wheels at all times.
Yes, most of us do all of the above when driving, the problem being that smoking a cigarette just adds to the time that only one hand is on the steering wheel.
I remember a bus driver in Italy, who insisted on smoking a cigarette for most of the two hour journey that we endured with him, as well as making regular phone calls with a hand held mobile phone.
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Nicotine is a drug - driving back to Devon from Leeds today I noticed that the drivers who wobbled over the lines, sat in the middle lane, and let their speed drift around (65 one minute, 85 the next) had a lit cigarette in their hand.
What I can't understand is why most of the people who throw the ends out the window would never dream of throwing cans etc out too.
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>>What I can't understand is why most of the people who throw the ends out the window would never dream of throwing cans etc out too.
AHH but they do.everything from fag ends to nappies:( I kid you not.I often dropped my youngest of to school..as Others do as well. but some took baby with them and changed there and then.As they drove away it was thrown out the window.
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Steve
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personally I find horse much worse litterers than smokers. The stuff they eject stinks and corrodes the underside of your car and makes the road sillpery in wet weather.
Insist on all horses on roads being fitted with nappies.
:-)
madf
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personally I find horse much worse litterers than smokers. The stuff they eject stinks and corrodes the underside of your car and makes the road sillpery in wet weather. Insist on all horses on roads being fitted with nappies. :-) madf
I assume you're trying to joke, but I'm pretty sure that horses fouling the road IS illegal. By law the riders should clean up after them, the same as any other pet owner. Mind you, they seemt o suffer from the same blind-spot as cigarette discarders, and leave it all behind.
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They = some horse-riders of course. I wouldn't dream of suggesting all horse-riders leave a trail of droppings behind them...
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I agree that throwing out dog-ends (particularly if they are still lit) is a deplorable practice. However, the total amount of dog-ends is small compared with the total amount of food wrapping and drinks cans and bottles that get thrown out. Just have a look at the verge at the end of any motorway exit slip road ~ what a mess.
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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I know slightly off topic, but another pet hate of mine is when stuck in a queue of traffic and the driver in front is billowing smoke out of their side window, straight into your air intake, filling your motor with the stench of their smoke. Make them sit in their boxes with the windows up I say...
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another pet hate of mine is when stuck in a queue of traffic and the driver in front is billowing smoke out of their side window, straight into your air intake, filling your motor with the stench of their smoke
runboy, have you noticed that the car in front will often have a pipe sticking out the back of it which pumps smoke straight at your car?
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Yeah but that's carbon monoxide...much nicer than nicotine!
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Adam
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<< the car in front will oftenhave a pipe sticking out the back of it which pumps smoke straight at your car?
Mainly when it's a diesel ~ bleugh!
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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They = some horse-riders of course. I wouldn't dream of suggesting all horse-riders leave a trail of droppings behind them...
All of the horse riders around our village leave their horse's droppings on the road, without fail (often right outside our house).
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All of the horse riders around our village leave their horse's droppings on the road, without fail (often right outside our house).
Free manure for the roses, or to kick-start the compost heap. On my street, there is no shortage of gardeners who scoop up the donations.
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All of the horse riders around our village leave their horse's droppings on the road, without fail (often right outside our house).
If you can get their registration, you could report oto the police ;)
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The general public only refrain from doing things that they perceive to be wrong. Unfortunately the line between what is perceived to be wrong and what is perceived to be acceptable is moving ~ and in the wrong direction in my view. In my younger days it was perceived to be wrong to cycle on the pavement, so you didn't do it. Nowadays it is thought to be acceptable, so most cyclists do it. In fact I'm sure that some cyclists believe that the pavement is designated solely for this purpose. Riding a horse on the pavement was perceived to be wrong.
Living over the brush was perceived to be wrong, homosexuality was perceived to be wrong. If you were young, addressing almost any adult by their first name was perceived to be disrespectful. (I have a friend in her mid-60's who still addresses the mother of her friend as Mrs Turner, even though she has known her for over 50 years.)
Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
It's little wonder that younger people consider tossing a lighted dog-end out of a car window to be acceptable.
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Nice try Mr L'Escargot, but I'm not sure you can lay the blame for this particular bit of anti-social behaviour at the door of 'young people nowadays'.
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If, as you say, this all part and parcel of a society which has ceased to criminalise gay people and stopped persecuting couples whose relationship doesn't involve marriage, then I reckon a few dropped cigarette butts would be a small price to pay for the long-overdue freedom -- though I doubt you are right.
But it's still fascinating to watch how a discussion about a piece of motoring-related littering has sparked such a huge and rambling thread!
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And you thought we could prolong an argument NW!
;-)
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Adam
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