Expensive litter: Tossed cigarette ignites SUV

[democracyindanger]

No ifs, ands or butts about it, Jonathan Fish learned an expensive lesson today about the dangers of littering.

The 20-year-old San Francisco resident was rolling across the upper deck of the Bay Bridge at 10:40 a.m., smoking a cigarette. When he got to Harrison Street, he rolled down the window of his white 2004 Ford Expedition SUV and tossed out the butt.

Instead of bounding along the pavement, however, the still-lit cigarette blew back in and set the interior of his $30,000 SUV ablaze.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/02/17/suvfire17.TMP

I wonder if the karmic spanking was for littering or driving an SUV.

[KG]

1. heh.

had that happen to me a couple time when i was a smoker. but just got a burn mark on the carpet.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Makes you wonder

what the interior of the SUV was made of that it started such a fire. My husband is a smoker, and the worst thing to happen to our 15-year-old Prizm are some burn marks on the seat.

[Bossy Monkey]

9. Maybe it was a Blazer (ducking, running away) n/t

[RC]

3. At least it was his Stupid Useless Vehicle

Cigarettes tossed like that have been know to blow into following vehicles.

[blueknight]

4. good!

i hate litterbugs:mad:

[Maine-ah]

6. jeez, I couldn't have gotten out of my driveway thismorning

without my SUV. The most USEFULL vehicle I've ever purchased.

[Seabiscuit]

5. Karmic spanking for littering or driving an SUV? A double whammy!

I could roast marshmallows in such a fire while singing "Doo-Dah"!

[yellowcanine]

11. Yep - a Twofer. What I have never understood about smokers in cars

is why they think it is ok to toss the butts out the window. If a car ot truck in an adjacent lane has a fuel leak it could be catastrophic. Before you say "What are the chances of that?" I say, not great but still real. Ond day I was cruising through town and smelled the strong odor of gasoline. Turned out the truck in the next lane had no fuel cap and the gasoline was spilling out every time the truck lurched a little.

Also - the cars have ash trays, right? If you are already smoking in your car it is not as if you are going to stink up the inside of the car anymore by putting the butt in the ash tray. Rant finished.

[Seabiscuit]

15. Can't argue with any of that.

Plus, even if there is no immediate danger in tossing a lit cigarette butt out of a car (and the smoker can never know that for certain), if the smoker smokes filtered cigarettes and even tosses an unlit cigarette to the side of the road, the filters are not biodegradable and contaminate the environment all by themselves.

Anyone who tosses cigarettes out of the car is a menace to society. The fines should be a lot steeper. Unfortunately, only a tiny fraction of such offenders are ever noticed by the police.

So many people in this country think that if they can get away with something, then why not? Just drive around any mall or shopping center parking lot close to midnight and take a look at all the litter, cigarettes, food wrappings, bottles, cans, food, papers, etc. drivers have left behind.

Disgusting. No wonder the rest of the world holds us in such low esteem (as if our gov's bullying and imperialistic foreign policy wasn't enough).

OK. End of rant.

[benburch]

7. I hope they charge him with Arson.

He has it coming.

[SheilaT]

8. Don't even new cars

still have ashtrays? What's so hard about using it?

One of the things I despise about smokers is that almost all of them are stupid litterers. Use the ashtray in their car? Nooooo, toss the still-lit cigarette outside the window. Who cares where it lands?

[bleedingheart]

10. I wonder if he didn't use some sort of cleaning fluid that may have

left some sort of accelerant residue on the car.....clearly there is something wrong...

[pinniped]

12. The only bad thing that happened was more air pollution...

due to the fire.

Littering asshole. A 1,000 dollar ticket is not enough. I hope the SFFD sends him a fat bill too.

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. Good. Stupid fucker deserves to lose his car.

Assholes throwing lit cigarettes out windows need to have their cars burned to the ground.

[fortyfeetunder]

14. Good thing it was HIS car

Regardless of the make of the car, it could have been a Yugo for all I care, there was no reason for him to throw the butt out.

One of the worst case outcomes had that lighted cigarette landed in another car loaded with small children.

That is why I drive with the windows up or either partially cracked. I see too many of these yahoos on the road.