New South Wales lawmakers have come up with a new set of bushfire laws, according to which, you can get a $11,000 fine just for throwing a cigarette out of your car.
The law was announced and will be applicable in areas and timings under the enforcement of the total fire ban.
Even if there is no fire ban in an area, throwing a cigarette’s filter out of your car would earn you an instant five demerit points.
If you are not driving a car but are riding one with a driver throwing a cigarette filter out of the window, you’ll get a $660 fine normally and a $1,320 fine if there’s a total fire ban.
David Elliot, the New South Wales Minister of Police and Emergency Services, announced the latest punishments last Thursday, following the announcement of emergency by the Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
These new penalties are the harshest driving fines in Australia.
Minister Elliot said: “We had an early start to the fire season this year, and just 19 days into summer, we’ve seen almost three million hectares burnt, more than 700 homes destroyed, and, tragically, six lives lost.’”
“Firefighters have been on the front-line fighting the blazes day and night and this kind of criminal foolishness will not be tolerated.”
So far, more than 200 people have been charged with these offenses in the last week.
The bushfires have become a massive problem for Australia recently. There has been a loss of six lives to the bushfires and more than 800 houses have been engulfed by the unforgiving blazes in New South Wales.
Currently, two huge blazes are engulfing the woods near Sydney and are feared to combine and form an even bigger fire.
With the temperatures exceeding 45 degrees Celsius, it is feared that the Gospers Mountain fire going on in the northern side of the Blue Mountains National Park can combine with the Green Wattle Creek blaze, burning to the south of it.
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