You're driving your car, the partially open window provides enough space to admit the wind to caress your hair. The road fly's by beneath you and the stereo is blaring your favourite band. You take one last drag of your cigarette, sighing in contentment and then make the mistake of flicking it out the window.
Instead of flying out the window harmlessly, the cigarette butt is caught by the wind and thrown through the window right into your lap. At first, you don't even realize what's happened. You continue to drive along oblivious, until your groin begins to burn.
You look down frantically and raise your rear to dislodge the cigarette, to no avail. It continues to burn, and you begin to panic. It's hard to keep the car from swerving as you recklessly try to find and remove the cigarette. Your face contorts in pain, and your eyes bulge in panic. What do you do?
Two things can happen to our hero at this point.
1.You crash the car, harming yourself, destroying your vehicle and possibly hurting another motorist or passer by.
2.Or...you can find the cigarette butt that's burning away just in the knick of time, saving yourself from a damaged groin and the possibility of further harm, even death.
In this particular article, let's assume that you are lucky enough to find and remove the burning cigarette without causing anyone serious bodily harm. It's less messy that way.
You find that burning cigarette and glare at it malevolently, as if it had been the one to flick itself out the window, and not you. You then mash it violently in the ashtray where it can do no further harm.
While this whole story may be comical, it happens all the time. Almost every smoker has had this, or a similar story, happen to them. It's not funny to them at the time, and it can be extremely dangerous.
If you happened to be riding with a child in the car, your own child, this scenario could end even more tragically. After all, the combination of barbecued crotch and driving, don't mix very well.
If this has happened to you, ask yourself if it was worth it. How would you have felt if you had seriously harmed another motorist? How would your family have felt if you had been killed or hurt badly, maybe even paralyzed? How would you have felt if it were your child that sustained the injuries?
Sure, those are the worst case scenarios, but they could happen to you or someone close to you. Maybe it's a family member or good friend.
