Man Tries to Toss Cigarette, SUV Ignites

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/smoking_driver

I really like stories like this. An SUV (to wit, a Chevrolet Suburban hurtling out of control at an estimated speed of 40 mph in a 30 mph zone) ran off the road and nearly killed me on November 9, 2003. Ever since then, I've experienced extreme Schadenfreude whenever SUV drivers meet with disaster.

I am also wondering how people can smoke and drive safely at the same time. It is no less frightening a concept to me than driving and talking over the cell phone. The answer seems to be "with great difficulty" in both cases.

It's an asphalt jungle out there. SUVs are the artificial dinosaurs of this age, but it's not going to take an asteroid to get rid of them, although that would work also. I'm sorta looking forward to Peak Oil and its concomitant $8 per gallon gasoline prices. The problem is that the U.S. government will take the opportunity to go ahead and neutron-bomb all the world's oilfields, seeing as how "shock and awe" didn't work too well in effecting a smooth takeover of Iraq.