Summer Driving and Smoking

Summer's here again with heat and flies. Without having given it any thought I always assumed that everybody would welcome this time of the year but the truth is that many people prefer Winter. Both Summer and Winter can be dangerous and uncomfortable in their extremes.People die as a result of prolonged exposure to both heat and cold, but if I had to choose I think I would choose the heat.

During the Summer drivers often open the car windows but if you are a smoker this could lead to problems for other road users. I often see drivers smoking while driving and flicking the ash out the window. This becomes a problem to following motorcyclists who take the ash in their faces. Presumably this must lead to some heated discussions. It wouldn't be a surprise to anybody if it did.

It also seems to be a temptation for the driver to flick his still lit cigarette into the undergrowth at the side of the roads. Why these people don't realize that they are probably starting a forest fire with all that involves, I just don't know. Spain has suffered some major disasters in the past with fires that were started in this way that have gone on to cause great property loss and distress to many people.

How many people have actually lost their lives because a driver suffered fallen hot ash in their laps? I have never come across any statistics to that effect but we can be certain, it has happened. I can attest to a near miss head-on crash that was caused by a driver who was trying to light his cigarette from the electric starter in the car. Our cars were encountering each other on a gentle bend, but because he had his head down trying to connect the lighter to the cigarette in his mouth he didn't realise he was floating directly toward me. I blew my horn, he looked up and dropped the cigarette and threw the lighter towards the back seat while swerving away from me.

Another coat of paint on our cars and we would have collided! They say that smoking kills, and while that can be true we are not always aware of the many ways that can happen.

Lastly, I can never understand people who load up their cars with their children and who smoke while they drive. There is no nice way to say this, but geez guys; how can you be so selfish and irresponsible. It would be easy for you to tell me to mind my own business but that does nothing towards solving the problem that you are creating. You are still irresponsible and selfish to your own children who you chose to bring into the world.

If you die a horrible painful death through throat or lung cancer caused by your own selfishness, justice will be served. I don't mean that in a bitter way, just that it would be a fact.

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael