SR 100 fine for butt-throwing drivers

Throwing cigarette butts from car windows is an offense. “The fine for such a traffic violation is SR 100,” said Madinah Traffic chief Muhammad Al-Shanbari. “Unfortunately, 90 percent of the offenders violate this traffic law without any shame at all,” he told the local press.
Al-Shanbari hoped that the media would play an important role in educating the public to stop this offensive behavior. “The way community members look at these despicable actions is a deterrent in itself,” he said.
Brig. Khaled Al-Johani, spokesman for Madinah Civil Defense, said if a cigarette butt lands at leaking fuel, a fire would break out instantly. “The fire may burn other cars close by, turning a small incident into a disaster,” he added.
A Jeddah Traffic Police report said it had recorded 11,940 offenses for littering from vehicles in the first half of 2011. Calling littering “an uncultured and uncivilized act,” a department official said the fine for littering is SR150. The department launched a campaign in 2010 with the support of Jeddah Municipality and ever since it has been issuing tickets to discourage people from throwing trash from their car windows.
The number of violations decreased as a result of the campaign, which included signs to discourage people from carelessly tossing their refuse from their vehicles.