A grand a butt ( nope, not that kind of butt )

daveza

daveza

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http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=&art_id=vn20071002111407265C612748#

The world is indeed going completely mad.

Watch your passengers, motorists told
By Staff Reporter

Vehicle owners could pay fines of up to R1 000 if their passengers are caught tossing cigarette butts out of their car windows.

According to the City of Cape Town's amended Fire Safety By-Law, the fine will not be given to the perpetrator but sent to the registered owner of the car.

The amendment, which was approved by the full council and promulgated in the Provincial Gazette in June, comes after a tourist allegedly caused the devastating fire on Table Mountain in 2005 when he tossed a "stompie" out of his car window.

British tourist Anthony Cooper, 36, faces charges of culpable homicide and contravening the National Veld and Forest Fire Act. He is set to appear in the Cape Regional Court in November.

The amendment stipulates that if a person throws a lit match or cigarette from a vehicle and the action is likely to cause a fire, the person shall be presumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to be culpable and liable to a fine.

But Denzel Ramedies, station commander of Fire and Rescue Services, said people would only be prosecuted if they were likely to cause fires.

"If the perpetrator throws a butt out on a main road, it is likely that we would not charge the car owner. But if it is close to an open field and could cause a fire, we will take action."

Ramedies urged people who witnessed transgressions of the by-law to call the 24-hour Emergency Control Centre on 021 424 7715.

The caller would be re-quested to provide the location, date and time of the incident and a description of the vehicle and would have to make a sworn affidavit to the police.

The fire department would then trace the registered owner of the vehicle and send a fine.
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A thousand bucks - which goes where by the way ?

A phone in number ? How about a phone in number where I can report taxis, people who don't flush public loos, people with dogs that bark continuously, etc etc - and have them fined on my word alone !

Maybe I should get the licence number of all the people I dislike and create a 1000,00 debit on their income just cos I can.

Oh - and I'll make sure they are all reported in areas where a fire is most likely....wonder whose decision that will be.

I still dont buy the story about the tourist.
A guard saw him drop a stompie which then immediately caught the bush alight. Any reason the guard didnt stomp it out ? If it was a delayed burn then how do they know it wasn't another cigarette butt ?

Have you ever taken some dry shrub and tried to make a fire with a ciggy butt ? A cig on a road explodes when it makes contact leaving nothing to create a fire.

Far more likely to cause a fire is glass and plastic which can concentrate heat and cause a fire - but strangely there is no phone-in/automatic fine number to report plastic and glass litterers.

Crazy.
 
daveza said:
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=&art_id=vn20071002111407265C612748#
Far more likely to cause a fire is glass and plastic which can concentrate heat and cause a fire - but strangely there is no phone-in/automatic fine number to report plastic and glass litterers.

Crazy.
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Extend the fine to include all forms of littering regardless of what they're throwing out of the window. That should stop those fsuckers from tossing their KFC boxes on my beach! :mad:
 
Iwojima said:
That should stop those fsuckers from tossing their KFC boxes on my beach! :mad:
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I remember going to the royal show in PMB one year and we thought the carnival area would be a fun place to spend an hour or two. Yeah maybe it could have been if we didnt have to wade through waist high levels of KFC boxes and freshly-sucked chicken bones!!!

What goes thorugh someones thick head that thry think its ok to just drop your rubish wherever you feel even if its on a pathway or even NEXT TO A BIN!?!

Disgusting.:mad:
 
daveza said:
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=&art_id=vn20071002111407265C612748#

The world is indeed going completely mad.



A thousand bucks - which goes where by the way ?

A phone in number ? How about a phone in number where I can report taxis, people who don't flush public loos, people with dogs that bark continuously, etc etc - and have them fined on my word alone !

Maybe I should get the licence number of all the people I dislike and create a 1000,00 debit on their income just cos I can.

Oh - and I'll make sure they are all reported in areas where a fire is most likely....wonder whose decision that will be.

I still dont buy the story about the tourist.
A guard saw him drop a stompie which then immediately caught the bush alight. Any reason the guard didnt stomp it out ? If it was a delayed burn then how do they know it wasn't another cigarette butt ?

Have you ever taken some dry shrub and tried to make a fire with a ciggy butt ? A cig on a road explodes when it makes contact leaving nothing to create a fire.

Far more likely to cause a fire is glass and plastic which can concentrate heat and cause a fire - but strangely there is no phone-in/automatic fine number to report plastic and glass litterers.

Crazy.
Click to expand...
Do you toss your butts out of the window?
 
Sounds like he's one of them. Dumba$$es that throw their butts out of the window should not only be fined, but other road users should be given carte blanche to kick their asses.

There is no excuse.
 
Brenden_E said:
Sounds like he's one of them. Dumba$ that throw their butts out of the window should not only be fined, but other road users should be given carte blanche to kick their asses.

There is no excuse.
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Agreed. About the only time I get road rage is when I see butts flying. :mad:
 
I think the point is being missed slightly here..

CPT is getting twitchy about having cigarette butts being chucked out of windows (yes I too do that for I R a smoker), but the point here is that, why target specifically smokers? I've seen far worse than butts being chucked out of windows. Where ever you drive in SA the roadside is littered with all sorts of detritus.

If there is going to be a clampdown based on hearsay about cigarette butts, then why not include all forms of littering in it?
 
hmmm... wtf is that thing in your car for? for loose change? or to keep your condoms and keys in? nay i say, stick your stompies in it (i think they call it an "ash tray" or something weird like that. what a bizzare world huh?)

yeah, fine them, by all means, butt it does sound like anybody could report me as well (as a non-smoker i might take offense :p )
 
schitz011 said:
I think the point is being missed slightly here..

CPT is getting twitchy about having cigarette butts being chucked out of windows (yes I too do that for I R a smoker), but the point here is that, why target specifically smokers? I've seen far worse than butts being chucked out of windows. Where ever you drive in SA the roadside is littered with all sorts of detritus.

If there is going to be a clampdown based on hearsay about cigarette butts, then why not include all forms of littering in it?
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You admit to throwing your butts out of the window and then justify it by "I've seen far worse"? :eek:
 
I don't care about the fire aspect, it's littering. And that should be a hanging offence.

On the other hand, we have idjits doing things that can kill people, doing those things all the time, and getting away with it. Yet we want to get tough on littering motorists.

We also have people dying of AIDS and TB and three kids to a box at Bara yet we're spending a helluva lot of resources stopping people from smoking too close to an open window.

I like the anti-smoking laws, but I think they've gone far enough. I like the anti-littering laws but I think they can't be enforced. And I feel all of this is mostly to keep us off-balance so we don't notice that the important things are not being attended to.

Koos
--
Law making does not stop crime, law *enforcement* stops crime.
 
schitz011 said:
(yes I too do that for I R a smoker), but the point here is that, why target specifically smokers?
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Hey look, I agree with you, those guys chucking the KFC boxes should be shot too. The important word here is "too"... you're at the head of the queue. So line up.

How the FSCK can you justify tossing a butt out the window by "for I R a smoker"? You want to suck the smoke but you don't want the smelly butt in your car? Wake up dude, you smell just as bad as that butt, you just don't know it.
 
I think the point has been missed.

No, I dont throw butts out of the window - I dont throw anything out of the window.

But ( with one t ) - two points:-

I dont believe butts cause veld fires.

I have a problem with this vigilante style law enforcement. Are we all happy with a system whereby we can be fined on a strangers say-so ?

Can you picture Aunty Grump driving her Austin Apache and noticing a butt fly out the window. She scratches through her cubby hole for paper and pen ( while driving ), then has to catch up with the perp, read the number plate and write down the number. Then she has to check the time and find the name of the street.

But it wasnt a ciggy butt, as Aunty Grump has bad eyesight - it was a piece of paper.
R1000.00 bucks fine for the tiny piece of paper litterer.

It's absurd.
 
Koos Custodiet said:
How the FSCK can you justify tossing a butt out the window by "for I R a smoker"? You want to suck the smoke but you don't want the smelly butt in your car? Wake up dude, you smell just as bad as that butt, you just don't know it.
Click to expand...

Who cares! I chuck butts out the window no problem.
:p
 
As far as I know, cigarette butts can start fires, but under very specific circumstances, and it will take a number of hours for a fire to ignite. It is incredibly hard to start a fire from a cigarette butt, I have tried will various combinations of paper, and petrol soaked paper without any effect.

IMO, cigarette butts are only one possible cause, along with homeless people starting fire to clear veld or to cook.

Cape Town wildfire pictures here
 
Don't throw homeless people out of the window!

[thread necromancy, I know. Search>New Thread:)]
 
//Does the non smokers dance!!

Whoop whoop!!

So happy none of these laws affect me :)
 
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