No Smoking in the Car

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

Doctors recommend a ban on smoking in cars

This seems like a no-brainer. Aside from the toxic atmosphere created inside the car, it can't be a good idea to be messing about with lighters etc. rather than keeping eyes on the road.

One hand changing gear, the other hand only partially on the whgell

And yes nana, I know it's about health.

Do brand new cars still get made with ashtrays and lighters??

Never had a new one so don't know?

no they don't it is a now an extra.
totally unworkable stupid idea, how will it be policed for a start.
people have a choice they don't have to get into a smokers car.
smoking in a car with and under 16 should be banned

I love how, for smokers, the decision to poison yourself with extra-high levels of toxins is seen as a matter of personal freedom and civil liberty. Most people try to avoid damaging their health. Even if a ban never happens, are smokers really saying they won't change their behaviour in the light of this information?

Cogito - since smokers already know all the rest of the reasons why it's a bad idea to smoke, I doubt they'll find this one extra fact all that compelling tbh. It's an addiction, and addicts are very good at filtering out things which get in the way of the next fix.

Tbh most of us are pretty good at filtering things out which we don't want to hear, and are much likely to focus on messages which agree with what we already believe, and dismiss any that disagree with what we believe, so I don't mean that smokers are any worse for this than the rest of us.

In general, I think adults should have the right to choose to do things that are bad for them, unless those things are likely to harm others in a fairly dircet way. eg smoking in pubs, drink-driving, etc

I agree with AMIS. Yes,we smokers' know the health risks,it is an addiction. I have tried and failed to stop..and I will keep trying until I stop. This piece of info will not help my addiction. But that isn't what it's about. It's about telling people what to do in their own private space.

I don't care what smokers do in their own private space. But I do care if they do it when I'm in that private space. The difference is that I can choose whether to get into a car knowing that someone might smoke in it, whereas a smoker's child doesn't have that choice. I think a ban when there are children in the car is completely reasonable, but I would like to see that logically progress to a ban on smoking around children in other places - school gates, while pregnant etc.

The trouble is, things like this always tend to turn into an 'us and them'-type row, or one about so-called civil liberties (as someone said above).

Of course the decision to poison yourself is a matter of personal freedom. Just as the (dangerous) choice to eat shitey MacDonalds, drink Stella or go skydiving is a personal freedom.

I dont smoke in pubs (any more), I dont smoke with my DD in the car or in any restricted space, but ME smoking in MY own car or MY own garden does not impact on anyone else, so I'll be buggered if I'll let anyone else tell me what I should be doing.

They should ban nose picking in cars

If I want to smoke in my car, I'll do it. I don't smoke with kids in the car but on my own I'll do what I want on my own property.
I disagree with the earlier poster about having a stripper in the car. When I tried it, the windows got steamed up and I crashed. I suppose it wasn't a good idea in a fiat panda.

I'm torn between shouting out: STOP NANNYING ME to the Government, particularly when you're in your own home or car but at the same time I can't help but think of the enormous cost in healthcare smoking-related diseases cost.

Before I get shouted at, I do not believe smokers shouldn't be treated, not at all - the NHS is for everyone and I also know that there are other pressures on the NHS from alcohol related problems etc etc.

I do believe though that it's right to take responsibility for your own health and giving up the fags has got to be a good thing, right? In any case smoking with kids in the car is a no-no in my book. For a start it's bloody freezing in winter with the window down.

I've been in a car with someone who flicked their cigarette out of the window wind blew burning tip back in. Cue weaving across road whilst trying to put out smoldering crotch.

Luckily the road was clear but could easily have caused an accident. Perhaps the driver should be prohibited from smoking?

If you ban smoking in the car with kids....what about at home? Still an enclosed area!

On a lighter haha note. Knew someone who dropped a lit zippo lighter between his legs whilst on a motorway. V scary at time but perhaps he learnt a valuable lesson. No harm done to anyone but himself !

If you are on your own in the car then presumably you are the driver and shouldn't be smoking while driving in any case?

Yes smellsofsick the cost to the NHS is an issue (love your name btw!)
But I think that is why the revenue on tobacco is so high,as to cover the cost...and then some.

Are they wanting to ban all smoking in cars full stop or just when children are in the car? I was remarking to my brother the other day that I've seen more and more people smoking in their cars recently, and wondered if it was because it's one of the few places left where they can actually smoke?

While we're on the subject, I think there should also be a ban on children dropping things on the floor in cars and then demanding that they're picked up. Mine now sweetly say, 'Mummy, can you pick up my doll/teddy/etch-a-sketch/puter/drink/bread/teeny miniscule Playmobile flower when you stop at the next traffic lights?'

Belgo, the highway code states:

^Safe driving and riding needs concentration.

Avoid distractions when driving or riding such as

loud music (this may mask other sounds)
trying to read maps
inserting a cassette or CD or tuning a radio
arguing with your passengers or other road users
eating and drinking
smoking^

But at present it is not a punishable offence to smoke on your own in your own car.

Work cars are a different matter, the HC states:

You MUST NOT smoke in public transport vehicles or in vehicles used for work purposes in certain prescribed circumstances. Separate regulations apply to England, Wales and Scotland.

It's about time they stopped all this. Stop displaying cigarettes in shops, in fact ban it altogether, if it's as bad as they make out. See what the fallout will be when there is a gaping hole in the public purse due to the losing all the tax they take off smokers. It's discrimination against people doing something that is perfectly legal.

I am an ex smoker, gave up because I was sick of paying out a fortune and sick of the discrimination about where I could and couldn't smoke. I smoked in my car but not with DD in it. My car was often the only dry place I could have a cig in.

People are always banging on about smokers choosing to smoke when in fact it is a terrible addiction that is extremely difficult to give up. I still struggle with it and miss my smokes. In fact if it was a choice I would still smoke on a weekend, say 10 a week, but it isn't it's an evil habit which will get me hooked again. That's why I think it should be banned so they cannot persecute people doing something, legally and openly.

Gracie, just read back abit, yes must admit that happened to me more than once. Feeling obliged to only smoke in a moving car with the window open and not being able to stub it out properly whilst driving meant that the lit cigarette end blew back in the car. Terrible. Take my rant back, I'm glad I've quit.

Anyone care to read this and comment?

Any argument claiming that smoking is 'good' because it pays into the public purse is deeply flawed. Whether it 'adds value' or not (and the evidence about whether smoking brings in more money than it uses up in NHS resources is conflicting) - surely the point is that healthwise it is extremely bad for you. Is anyone really saying it's a good thing that people indulge in harmful habits simply to pay more tax into the public coffers?! Personally I think if people are daft enough to risk their own health and pay more tax than they need to into the bargain, then thats their business, and as I said earlier, I wouldn't ban them from smoking in their home or car because its their private space and where they should smoke if they feel they want to. But its stupid to try to use any financial argument for it

I am a non-smoker and very anti-smoking but think that this is unworkable.
I would much rather the attention was focussed on banning trans-fats from food. That's a much bigger problem than passive smoking in cars.

a woman recently got jailed for feeding her child solids at an inappropriate age and killing it. I don't this is any different - ie you are endangering a child's life and poisoning it by smoking in the car with a child. you wouldn't be allowed to poison somone in your house on the basis that you owned it so people should mind their own business. why should a car be any different? The child has no choice but to continue to sit in the car. if the parent can't be responsible then the law should protect the child.

i should perhaps point out that I am biased - my husband nearly died last year as a result of a chest infection and asthma and that his brother also has it. Possibly a result of a mother who smoked whilst pregnant and in the house. she thankfully now smokes outside because it makes the paint go a funny colour otherwise!!!

When I was a young idiot smoker, many years ago , I lobbed my fag out of the car window and it, somehow, came back in the rear window and burned a massive hole in my friend's jacket. Just a bit dangerous.

I do think it should be illegal with kids in the car, but that's a no-brainer really, and I would hope very few do this.