Flick it and ticket: State police target tossed butts

As dry as it is, the Indiana State Police are on the lookout for drivers tossing cigarette butts out of their windows.

State Police Superintendent Paul Whitesell issued a memo on Monday to area commanders, reminding them that is against the law to toss a lighted cigarette, cigar, match or other burning material from a moving vehicle, and urging troopers to enforce it.

This has become urgent because of Indian’s drought, Whitesell said in the memo.

He also said those who toss such items out of cars can be ticketed for littering, even if nothing is burning.

Several fires, including at least one in northeast Indiana, have been attributed to tossed cigarettes.