If you’re enjoying a cigar while traversing the roads of Washington state, you’ll want to make sure you have a place inside your car to put the nub, as tossing it out the window could earn you a fine of $1,025.
On Thursday, the Washington State Patrol issued an advisory warning of increased enforcement of motorists discarding lit tobacco products from their vehicles.
“As conditions continue to dry out across the state, the danger of fires caused by individuals discarding lit tobacco products or other lit material from their vehicles increase,” the agency said, adding that the resources needed to fight the fires and the losses associated with them, such as homes, structures and even life are extremely expensive and costly to tax payers.
To help reduce those costs and risks, the troopers watching the highways will take “appropriate enforcement” under state law for whose who discard a lit tobacco product or other lit material. Doing so constitutes a class 1 civil infraction, which comes with a fine of $1,025.