Thursday 18 December 2008

Do you drive a blue Mercedes, rego 475JVE?


Do you drive a blue Mercedes, rego 475JVE? Do you know who does?
Around 3pm Thursday afternoon, the driver of this vehicle did something that really pisses me off. He flicked his bloody cigarette out the window. The driver did this right in front of my car, as he turned left off the Captain Cook Highway, heading towards James Cook University.
Doesn't he have an ash tray inside his car?
I think there's nothing more disgusting and insulting than blatant pigs like this that insist of rubbishing our environment and our community. Also, at this time of year, such littering has the potential to spark a fire, as embers can travel for miles.
Now I know I'll get slammed for such a generalisation, but I reckon smokers are some of the worst litterers on Planet Earth. Although some of my best friends are smokers, Paul, Clint, and another Paul, to name butt three, are considerate about where they smoke. However, they still need hand-holding on where to dispense their dirty little habit of butt leftovers.
If I was a smoker I'd be carrying a small ash/butt container, that are available for a few cents.
Even when smokers supervise their children around swimming pools, right in front of the No Smoking sign, they insist of lighting up, and then throwing the butt right on the ground where they sit. Smokers do this on the beach as well. It's odd because it's obviously an environment and a space they enjoy and love, yet they still see fit to leave their ciggy butts all around where they lay. It's up there with dog walkers that don't carry poopie bags with them.
Imagine if we of other habits, did similar. Those that ate at restaurants, threw all their food scraps out on the street side. Those that drink from a can or a bottle, throw the container out the window. Those that did the lawn, emptied the clippings onto the street. Those that went to the toilet, well, you get the idea.
I recall a mate of mine saw a parked taxi driver who threw his ciggy butt out the window, just as a passenger jumped in. My friend walked over and told the driver to get out of his car and pick it up. Embarrassed, he did what he was asked, in front of the customer.
I gave this Mercedes litter bug a loud toot, as soon as he dispensed his unwanted butt, and he momentarily looked around. I suggest you do the same for other offenders. Better still, drive them off the road!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mike

I do think the photographic evidence is not entirely conclusive in this case.

It reminds me of 'Spot the Ball!' competitions in newspapers long ago, when readers would place a cross where the ball should be in soccer photos. The nearest cross won a prize.

Perhaps CairnsBlog could start 'Spot the Butt!'

It might be very popular.

John, Kuranda said...

I agree with your sentinment - and I am sure that when your passenger took the picture you were firmly in control of the motor vehicle. We would not want to get you in trouble for driving whilst using your mobile phone, or worse still using a camera while driving now would we?

Anonymous said...

Good point John. Lucky Mike had that passenger at the time. He also seems to have been using a left-hand-drive to get a good angle for the photo.

Perhaps it's the smoker in me, Mike, but I must say I think this isn't your blog's greatest story. For a moment I thought I must be reading the Cairns Post.

You expect readers to get outraged over an invisible butt?

Even Stephen Conroy doesn't get upset over invisible butts :-)

Anonymous said...

Me thinks u r an offending smoker SYd.. would I b correct? Regardless, I thought all you greenies would be angry if anyone threw their ciggy butts all around our environment?

Explanation Mr Walker!!!!

KitchenSlut said...

Yes, Paul T this is a somewhat surprising approach from the usually activist Syd to demand answers on traffic law minutaie and entirely disregard the verbal evidence of a credible(?) witness on a broader issue?

Now if it had been a Jew driving that germanic Merc the approach from Syd may have been different? Jeuden Raus, Syd! Jeuden Raus!

Regardless, i suspect whatever Syd is smokin up there probly don't have butts to throw away?

Anonymous said...

Hello Kitchenslut

I was hoping to butt out of this discussion entirely, but to answer your question, no, I don't have butts to throw away.

BTW, if you intend to keep repeating that odd Germanic sounding slogan, could you please explain what it means? Even my Google Translator doesn't seem to know what on earth you're on about.

Anonymous said...

Good on ya, Mike. Yep, butts out the window is a no-no, & especially in the hot dry season at present.
I think a lot of smokers assume their butts are biodegradeable - which was probably the case when ciggies were cork-tipped (back in the Dark Ages) Now they're some sort of plastic goo - probably adds to the death-defying ethos of the smoker. They take ages to biodegrade, & on the beach can end up in the tummies of fishies & birds etc.
Part of the problem now is due to the no-go-smoking area drama, those who do smoke are not provided with receptacles to place their butts (or anywhere to put their own butts whilst pausing to have a ciggie & reflect on life, or whether you really need to buy that vase/new frock/pack of teatowels etc.)
Answer to problem - you can buy portable ashtrays at most tobacconists - little tin numbers in pretty colours - for a few bucks. They're also handy when visiting the house of pretty-much non-smokers - they don't have to unearth an ashtray from the depths of the space under the sink where the cockies have been partying for the last 20 years.
Yes, I smoke. Love it, unfortunately. Well, someone's got to do it!
Mind you, at seminar days & conferences the bonding between smokers is almost instant. The networking is far quicker, & I've noticed now non-smokers hanging outside with the smokers.
Butts out of the car or dropped on beaches, in gutters etc. is repugnant. Just bad manners.

Anonymous said...

I agree with all this. My key point is that if Mike wants to shock his readers with photographic evidence, he needs to use Photoshop more effectively.

It's not hard to paint a flying butt, after all.

As it is, without glasses, the story appears to be about the perils of a rogue red arrow, loose on the public highway.

The owner of the Mercedes should certainly be told he dropped a red rubber band, which is being assaulted by a vicious red arrow. I agree. But presumably things like that happen every day down the hill? That's why I stay away as much as possible.

KitchenSlut said...

Syd, sorry for my abject spelling of 'juden' late at night but after perusing your own blog replete with conspiracy theories blaming the Jews for a bizzare depth of events I think the term is apt and this link may help if you cant find it on Google translator!

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/11102

Anonymous said...

I never use the terminology in your description, Kitchenslut (eg. "conspiracy theories blaming the Jews").

Please don't mis-report what I do say.

Come over to my blog if you want to debate me OT. Or send me an email. In this space, I ask that you don't misrepresent what I say or believe. If you do, I shall keep correcting you - and that's rather tedious for all concerned.

KitchenSlut said...

I don't think I have misrepresented anything Syd?

Your blog is replete with anti-semitic diatribe and conspiracy to explain every thing in this world ?

Anonymous said...

Rubbish. Spare me your gross over-simplifications. I try to write about important topics carefully. I don't ask you to like what I write - or read it. I just ask that you don't misrepresent it.

As this discussion must be boring for everyone else (possibly us too), I suggest we pack it in. If you want to debate me further on this topic, please do... soemwhere else.

I felt I had to respond initially, because your remark (possibly light-hearted) suggested thay i'm in favour of the mass expulsion of civilian populations. It's an insult that grates, to say the very least. Actually, it's beyond irony.

Enough! I'm not attacking you. Back off.

Anonymous said...

Pity we got off the topic guys!

Its mundane, but important - the topic of littering - and I'm right with you Mike. I lived in WA for a while a few decades ago and know how strongly they police littering over there. See http://portal.environment.wa.gov.au/portal/page?_pageid=1378,5911635&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL for info on how WA volunteers help police littering.

Throwing cigarette butts from cars incurrs a $75 fine which is about to increase.

Personally I also have a big gripe with those tradesmen who don't fasten down litter on building sites or in the back of utes. I have picked up lots of plastic wrap from building materials and numerous plasterers and painters buckets from the sides of roads.

The other really common items are drink containers. I made a big deal about this on World Environment Day 2 years ago after I accumulated a substantial pile of rubbish in just 20 minutes down a nearby roadside.

What amazed me was the number of plastic drink containers that had the lid back on and then were tossed. Surely its not too hard to toss the thing onto the back floor of a vehicle rather than out a window and then put it in a bin at home. There's not even the excuse it will drip with its lid on!

The contempt this littering behaviour shows is what really gets me, in an era when most of us know the consequences for the environment and the cruel death suffered by animals who ingest this plastic.

Anonymous said...

Hey Wendy,

$75 for littering or $75 Million. The government is wasting their time with laws that clearly no one has the time or inclination to enforce. Shit, you people can't put graffiti artists in gaol, nor those downloading graphic child pornography. The coppers are too busy setting up speed traps instead of fighting crime.

Today's Cairns Post says that coppers are being "assaulted". Wanna know why? Because the kind of people being recruited to be cops are meek and timid guys and gals. I"ve seen em on the street, cowering with fear at the teens confronting them. You don't see this kind of body language from cops in other countries.

If the LNP is supporting these nonsense laws instead of getting to the root of the problems, we're doomed.

Anonymous said...

Good on you Sick of the Pillies. Wendy, the LNP can go a long way towards getting elected by actually enforcing the laws on criminals realistically. How many times we heard Beattie saying 'we're getting tough on crime' was utter garbage and led to absolutely nothing.

How about when sentencing a criminal, actually put them in gaol for their maximum term. None of this suspended sentence crap.

How many times have we heard of the same person doing the same crime, and going before the courts more than ten times, and still getting a slap on the wrist. Peadophiles let back on the streets. Greivious bodily harm getting less than a year. Car theives getting nothing. Its no wonder society has gone to shit. Put them away. Put money into more prisons. Polls on the subject of pitiful sentencing show more than 90% of the population in disgust at the way the court systems are.

You want to get voted in? Make this a major issue with clear policies and you'll go a long way. Good luck. Would love to hear your response Wendy and other LNP members.

Anonymous said...

Don't you worry about the Bligh Government commitment to punish the crime, Put 'em all away.
Get caught with one carton of full strength beer in your car on the way to Yarrabah and you are up for $37,500 fine.
Yes that's right, $37,500.
Unless of course, Jason O'Brien put it there, haha.
I guess we will be welcoming the good ol' Yarrabah boys in Gordonvale sometime soon.

Anonymous said...

O.M.G I CANT BELIVE YOUR WARRIED ABOUT CIGGIES ON THE ROAD CONTAMINATING OUR ENVIRONMENT MEANWHILE YOUR DRIVING YOUR CAR
CHASEING AFTER SMOKERS PUTTING 1000TIME MORE SMOKE THEN THAT CIGGY. AND REMEMBER SMOKERS ARE PAYING FOR THE CURE FOR CANCER BY PAYING BIG TAXES ON THE CIGGIES. LOL