Taking a video of a person tossing the fag in traffic?

Electric Gypsy

I drive for a living. About once a week it happens that I end up behind a person in traffic that's smoking. I know that they're going to toss the cigarette. If I were to take a video of it happening, showing the number plate too. Would a litter warden be willing to follow this up. If people like me were allowed to do this, it would be a fantastic way for the government to get extra revenue through fines. 

Would most litter wardens be proactive enough?

Jequ0n

They’d really appreciate the footage, but only if it was hand recorded while driving because it would be useless otherwise.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058280666/taking-a-video-of-a-person-tossing-the-fag-in-traffic

They’ll probably pass your video onto the Gardai so you can be prosecuted for using your phone while driving.

dotsman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120140635#Comment_120140635

Indeed.

A certain phrase regarding a pot and a kettle comes to mind.

GSBellew

Dash Cam footage, the other posters must litter whilst driving....

cuttingtimber22

I read the title and was wondering was it something completely differ you were talking about. Public display of affection - was wondering why you would record it.

Caranica

You can make a report on the council website. They do follow up. A friend was in court to give evidence against someone who did that. You don't need a video

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120140861#Comment_120140861

Could you tell me more about that? Wasn't it a case of your word against theirs? Did your friend have to get a day off work to go to court?

As regards making a report, would involve calling to number on the bottom of this page? I don't see an option for reporting on the website.

https://www.galway.ie/en/services/environment/litter/control/

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120140635#Comment_120140635

The times I remember it happening, I was stopped in traffic... usually a red light. And the video would prove that.

eggy81

Maybe think of joining the Garda reserve. It might fill the need to have a bit of authority over others you have.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141437#Comment_120141437

As inunderstand it, the evidence against the litter lout would be your statement. Your video would simply help verify your accusation but on its own is insufficient for a conviction.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141437#Comment_120141437

Doesn’t matter what light you’re at, it’s illegal for a driver to have a phone in their hand, even when stopped in traffic.

Are you familiar with the Rules of the Road?

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141513#Comment_120141513

There has to be a way for me to get these people.

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141455#Comment_120141455

Probably. It's such a shame. You'd think the bloody video would be enough. Imagine how much fines they'd get to issue. They should change the rules.

magnavox

If you have evidence then yes they will follow it up and will issue a fine to the registered owner of the vehicle. They will however before issuing the fine confirm that you're willing to attend court to provide evidence if the fine is challenged.

Some people really do have too much time on their hands..

Count Dracula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120140701#Comment_120140701

That means that in the last 14 years, 72.75 trillion fag buts have broken down in the environment, give or take standard deviation and lies spread by lefties and non smokers.... who feel it is their job to coerce people who like smoking, to not do it.

You see the logic don't you?

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141588#Comment_120141588

Get a dashcam.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141744#Comment_120141744

Or maybe smokers should just clean up their own mess?

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141744#Comment_120141744

Are you a smoker?

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141708#Comment_120141708

Oh, so it's only if it's challenged that I'd have to appear in court? When you use the word 'evidence' in that vague way, you basically mean a video, right?

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141768#Comment_120141768

I don't own the vehicles!

magnavox

I believe so yes, a fine gets issued to them/vehicle owner saying they were observed at this location at this date littering contrary to this law and they are given the option to pay up or challenge it in court.

As regards evidence yes basically a video of them/the vehicle caught in the act. If it's just your word saying I saw this vehicle throwing a butt out the window I doubt any warden will waste their time trying to follow it up. But if you present them with a video and the facts/time/location the work has basically been done for them and they'll likely issue the fine, if you're prepared to stand by your evidence in court.

Count Dracula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141889#Comment_120141889

I like a few when I am drinking. To unwind.

I don't think they are the killers we are led to believe. That is not the solution either, but I do think denying people the right to smoke was instigated to appease the US insurance industry.

They are not necessarily good for you either. But when state attorneys decided to start nudging Philip Morris & Co in the 90's, it was blood they were smelling, not the health of American citizens... they saw a pot of gold staring right at them and they did not need to be asked twice.

That is fundamental problem with the US justice system, it is too susceptible to the meddling notions of big business.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142114#Comment_120142114

As a smoker I can confidently tell you they’re as bad as they say. I’ve reduced my cigarette intake in the last few months because I just don’t enjoy it anymore, but it’s a noticeable difference when I’ve smoked less cos some days I’ll have a few more if I’m overly stressed or whatever and I can feel the effects.

Always wondered how folk could think smoking wasn’t bad for them, would you reckon it’s all good to stand over a chimney and inhale that smoke? or suck on car exhausts?

Count Dracula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142151#Comment_120142151

This is a legal discussion on littering in fairness?

In brief, i reckon a couple of fags a day should be fairly harmless? Your clothes might smell bad, but that is all. All the statistics that were used to enable current legislation, via medical analysis, were gathered after an era when most of the country smoked, like everywhere? At the end of the day non smokers had more dog in the fight, but it is almost 20 years since the workplace ban and I would be intrigued to see any interpretations on benefits, if any, that the state has acquired as a result? At the end of the day, the department of health were certainly not going to promote smoking.... and under their constitutional responsibility there should be written somewhere that anything that contributes to the improvement of the health of citizens as a whole would have to be absorbed into their general strategy? I say that speculatively, please contradict if you think it is worthwhile, or better still if actually do know.

As a topic it still polarises opinion, that fact alone should mean that neither argument is completely correct?

Far more likely to get cancer from processed meat or plastics. I reckon.

One man's meat is another man's poison?

Legally, I am astonished that the state has not banned smoking on all modes of transport, including private transport, smoking is not just potentially bad for your health , it is also a fire hazard in a car.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141408#Comment_120141408

You can report any littering to the council. The vast majority pay the fine without going to court.

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142114#Comment_120142114

The solution to littering? Why can't there be multiple solutions, with this being one? I think it's a great idea. What do you think is the solution?

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141649#Comment_120141649

You were using a phone whilst in control of a heavy vehicle. I consider that the same as drink driving.

Don't give me any rubbish about red lights. You had it very handy.

Littering is disgusting too.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141900#Comment_120141900

How do you know in advance, from your position in the vehicle behind, that they are going to toss their butt?

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142676#Comment_120142676

I wasn't... honest. That's the plan though!

Or maybe a passenger could come in handy!

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142058#Comment_120142058

Yeah, but I wonder would they want a copy of the video, or how would that work I wonder? Or maybe they could just take a video of my video?

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142682#Comment_120142682

You are joking right? All smokers do it. They're scummy.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142758#Comment_120142758

So you take your phone out and film every smoker that you're behind? That's a lot of filming....

This doesn't really add up, does it?

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141744#Comment_120141744

But what have those 72.75 trillion fags broken down into??? What little bits of nano-plastic and toxins get into the environment, and then into our crops as a result of them breaking down? You neither know, nor care. You are most likely - to a greater or lesser extent - a smelling, messy human being. Litter on the street is probably the norm in your mind.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142758#Comment_120142758

So you'll sit with phone on hand, poised for a video every time you get behind a smoker? Comical. I smoke but I never throw buds in the street. All smokers don't do it.

On a serious note: A report to the litter warden is enough. You don't need a video. You just haven't be willing to stand over your accusation.

eggy81

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142782#Comment_120142782

lol. Says the lad driving a truck for a living.

Wossack

In my experience, it’s a safe bet that if you’ve noticed someone smoking in the car ahead of you, the butt is getting chucked out the window more often then not

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142776#Comment_120142776

Only in bumper to bumper traffic my friend. I can see the length of the cigarette and thereby know when they're about to toss it. You can also tell by the look of them whether they're a scumbag or not! I was behind one last week with a greyhound in the passenger seat with him. He tossed the fag and in all of 2 minutes later, the a$shole lights up another one!

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142804#Comment_120142804

You can see the length of the cigarette in the mouth or hand of the driver in front?

I fully agree with you that dumping butts from car windows is a scummy thing to do. My brother used to hop out of his car if he saw this happening, pick up the butt, throw it back in on the driver's lap and return to his vehicle, so maybe that would work for you.

The story about picking up your phone, opening your camera, setting it to video mode and starting recording doesn't really stand up.

Losty Dublin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120140635#Comment_120140635

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120141513#Comment_120141513

It's extremely unlikely that a Litter Warden could or would pass such a video on Even if they did, there's scant proof that the video recorder is or was the one holding the phone at the time of the alleged offence. Bear in mind that a Garda hasn't witnessed the alleged offence so can they lawfully issue a fixed penalty notice that they didn't see happen?

Calahonda52

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120140706#Comment_120140706

Cable tie plus Go Pro... sorted🤩

Electric Gypsy

@AndrewJRenko You can see the length of the cigarette in the mouth or hand of the driver in front?

If your eyes are able to make out that it's a cigarette, then it's pretty much impossible not to be able to see how much of it is left!

And what do you mean it doesn't 'stand up'? You mean it wouldn't stand up in court, or you mean you don't believe it's possible to do?

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142717#Comment_120142717

So you weren't driving?

Count Dracula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142782#Comment_120142782

I am a 1498 year old vampire lord? I can tell you that for a fact, I actually do live an extremely smelly existence. Trite enviro-facists like yourself, would not comprehend the concept of how revoltingly appalling I stink? It is bad my dear citizen, capiche? Have no doubt, por favor, my darling exquisite mortal Electric G.

I spend all my daylight hours contemplating my immortality, whilst lying on my back in a 13th century mahogany coffin, which I stole from an Orthodox monastery, high in the Georgian Caucasus mountains in 1602. It originally was the final resting place of the sarcophagus of Attila the Hun. I really love it in there.

At night, I rule the world and al its kingdoms.... even yours it seems now EG? I am in your world too, i hope you are enjoying your share?

But I am a vampire, we are no longer human, try to remember that mortal? The fairies find us confusing, at best.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaa.... hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah.... ad lib to fade.

Don't forget, vampires can create carbon, but we float around everywhere , so we can't leave a carbon footprint behind us .... get it?

Get it ?

Do you get it, EG ?

lololololpololol.

ciao, legally yours

CD

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142804#Comment_120142804

Still illegal.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142850#Comment_120142850

For the video to be usable for the litter prosecution, it would have to come with a statement confirming the source of the video. That statement would incriminate the driver filming, and AGS have issued prosecutions based on video reports. If the litter warden doesn’t pass on the video, the smoker probably will.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142992#Comment_120142992

I mean that the basis of your story doesn’t make sense. It smells off.

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120144280#Comment_120144280

This is all kind of ironic considering that you're recommending that I throw the cigarette butt back into a person's car. As if there'd be no consequence to that! You have waived you're right to be taken seriously.

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120144283#Comment_120144283

There is no story you idiot? If you actually read the original post properly you'd have realised that it's all hypothetical. I did tell a story about about a smoker I witnessed with a greyhound in the passenger seat... feel free to pretend you don't believe that if you want to be more difficult. You're acting as if taking a video while stuck in snail pace traffic takes the equivalent of the James Bond like abilities we'd see in a car chase. 

Why does it bother you so much that I plan on reporting litter louts? Do you actually think I'm going to crash the bus?

Rosalinda Eyes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120142837#Comment_120142837

The reason you may find it so hard to believe that one can see the how much of the cigarette is left could possibly be because you're imagining both vehicles traveling at 50 mph and 40 yards apart. Or maybe you imagining such an incident occurring at dusk. But if both vehicles are stopped at a red light and you're right behind the one in front, and it's broad day light, then it shouldn't be too hard to see the length of the cigarette when the smoker tips the ashes off. You'd also be looking at the cigarette perpendicularly.