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Original poster

To ban smoking in cars? Fair or not?

74 replies

mrcandmre · 14/05/2007 12:19

I believe such a thing is pure stupidity.

Most people...eat whilst driving, change c.ds, use the radio, use sat-nav, children are a distraction....I mean are they going to ban ALL of these too?

I am a smoker, but I do not whilst driving, as my 2 ds' are in the car with me when I do go out. But I believe people have their own rights in their own vehicles!

OP posts:
MissGolightly · 14/05/2007 12:34

Mamazon, my best friend was driving along behind a car in front when the driver in front tossed his cigarette out the window and it flew in HER window and onto the back seat. She was terrified trying to make it onto the hard shoulder and hoping the back seat didn't burst into flames. Thank god she doesn't have children.

hayes · 14/05/2007 12:35

if there are others in the car yes it should be banned

PeachyChocolateEClair · 14/05/2007 12:37

Our car (very ancient L reg) has a cd changer anyhow which operates through a remote so no dropping CD's for us! Whereas i'm not 6aware^ of any fag ighting mechanisms in production?

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 14/05/2007 12:37

I grudgingly let a friend smoke in my car once We were driving from Truro to Edinburgh, so I thought it would be easier than having to stop all the time for her to have a fag.
At one point she flicked it out of the window and it flew into the back so we had to pull onto the hard shoulder and root it out (it was on the back carpet)
Much worse was that my car reeked for weeks afterwards.

krazykoolkazza · 14/05/2007 12:38

Smoking is a dirty, filthy minging habit, I can't imagine what motivates anyone to do it and IMHO it should be banned full stop. However, as to whether people doing it in their cars should be criminalised, I'd say it's a pretty bonkers idea.

What would be the point of banning it simply as yet another potentially distracting activity to undertake whilst one is driving if they're not going to ban the endless list of other things which have the potential to distract drivers and have an impact on road safety?

Surely having bawling/squabbling kids in the back of the car is one of the most distracting things.

MissGolightly · 14/05/2007 12:41

Slightly off-topic, but what I find really weird is that totally responsible people who would NEVER drop litter in any other circumstance, feel it's fine to chuck their cigarette butts all over the street, even when they are 2 steps from a bin. Why's that? It's like they don't even think it constitutes litter?

PeachyChocolateEClair · 14/05/2007 12:41

yes kaza it is distracting but theres a difference between necessary and not necessary, kids are cigs aren;t.

FWIW I have no issue with people smoking in their own cars per se (works vehicales being outlawed here now and in England soon anyhow) but its the without due care and attention bit that concerns me.

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 14/05/2007 12:42

Absolutely, or as someone mentioned, maybe we should ban bees and wasps from motorwys as they can be buggers if they flie into you car.

This reminds me of a news story about californian orange producers trying to ban bees from their fields. A kind of 'bee no fly zone'. Apparantly they didn't want them cross pollinating from normal seeding orange plants to thir genetically modified perfectly spherical bright orange etc etc supermaket ones. So amusing.

fannyannie · 14/05/2007 12:44

"even when they are 2 steps from a bin."

because I don't want to be arrested for arson when the bin goes up in flames .

If there were more of those bins that have cigarette 'tray' things on the top with the normal bin underneath I don't think it would be as common.

islandofsodor · 14/05/2007 12:46

Smoking willonly be banned in company cars. We already ban smoking in our company cars.

MissGolightly · 14/05/2007 12:46

I get your point, but couldn't they stub it out on the pavement and then put the butt in the bin, fannyannie? Or stub it on the edge of the bin?

fannyannie · 14/05/2007 12:50

I suppose they could - but I'm not very good at stubbing out (nearly set my own - outside - cigarette 'bin' on fire before now as I haven't stubbed out properly) and it's all to easy to think you've stubbed out when you haven't.........

And do you really want the sides of public rubbish bins covered with cigarette ash?????

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 14/05/2007 12:51

MissGolightly, it's bit of a bind. More councils are removing public ashtrays as it may be seen as an 'incentive' to smoke, and you can't just toss a lit cigarette in a bin so people drop them wherever.
What is worst is in parks and on beaches. As a toddler my son would pick up countless fag ends on our local beach and bring them to us.
For a while they handed out portable ashtrays made of old shoe polish tins for smokers to use on the beach, but half of them just got used as an ashtray then left open on the beach,which fuly negates the point and is so inconsiderate!

princessmel · 14/05/2007 12:51

fair.

MissGolightly · 14/05/2007 12:54

Not really, but I'd prefer it to seeing the streets and parks littered with butts.

Our park has no less than 4 bins in the toddler's play area, all with metal lids, and the place is still strewn with cigarette butts. Every single time I take DS there he ends up chewing one, it just makes me cross that he can't crawl around and enjoy the grass.

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 14/05/2007 12:56

I'm also really pissed off that all the nice outdoor terraces and beer gardens will now become havens for smokers.
I disagree with this law change fully, although I hate smoking. Let the old men pubs remain smoky, and those who don't like it can stay away. Enough businesses took their own initiative and became non smoking long before government intervention.
It's also a sad fact that this will hit poorer communties harder.

SoupDragon · 14/05/2007 12:56

Perfectly acceptable on safety grounds in the same way as eating and using a mobile phone etc.

DominiConnor · 14/05/2007 13:10

TheDevil has a great point about "old men". The ban from pubs will push the average age of smokers up. At some point it will be seen by kids as a "sad old git" activity. I suspect that when we hit that tipping point, smoking will capsize to being as obscure as using snuff and as acceptable as pissing in the corner of the room.

I agree that in the short term, faggies will pollute beer gardens. But this is Britain, not the best place to stand outside.

As an employer I've got the brochure from the government about my responsibilities, including a picture of what counts as an "enclosed" space, and frankly it makes the average bus shelter look cushy.
It's hard to see pubs making all that much effort. People shivering in rainswept bus shelters aren't going to buy much beer or pub grub, and in particular aren't going to use gaming machines which are a nice little earner.

As for affects on poorer communities, I agree, but that's because they have more smokers, so will benefit more as well.

I'm old enough to remember when smoking was allowed on the tube. Personally I believe it was a good thing. Each train had a smoking carriage. They were really quite gross, most smokers wouldn't go in them. This led to only the most addicted faggies going in, and even they found the fug left a horrible smell on their clothes. Thus when they disappeared altogether, there was little mourning.

quadrophenia · 14/05/2007 13:14

As someone who does smoke, I think it is perfectly acceptable to ban it when driving. i wouldn't dream of smoking and driving, but then i wouldn't dream of smoking and walking either.

kookaburra · 14/05/2007 13:19

Let smokers smoke in their own cars, as long as they don't chuck the butts out the window! Would be interesting to know statistics of accidents caused like MsGolightly's friend where the butt gets dropped i hte car...
I can't cast the first stone @ smokers for being distracted as i was stopped by the police recenly for reading a newspaper in the car

Original poster
mrcandmre · 14/05/2007 13:22

MissGolightly..I am a smoker as said previously, and I do all in my power to put my ends in the bin...whether it means putting it in anempty drink bottle to bin it, or to carrying it home. I never drop them.
I have to nag DP to bin his on very rare occassions, as he is still sometimes in the habit(like most smokers)of putting it down and stamping on it.
I will however fight a smokers corner(be it very ashamedly)I don't smoke around my kids, I don't even smoke in the car, the garden(I go out front where the kids don't)I pick up butts in the park if I see them. I don't feel parents have the right to do that around their kids...they have no choice.
I feel absolutely discusted at parents that do smoke with kids in the car, or in the house.
I have to wash my hands, clean my mouth and face if I have one before I even touch the kids!

Anyway, my point remains, to all those with cars...smoke if you want to..just don't do it with poor non-smokers in the car!

OP posts:
edam · 14/05/2007 13:23

Ridiculous over-zealotry. The sort of thing that gives rise to comments about the nanny state. I'd like to see any statistics that prove this a major cause of accidents!

I don't smoke in the car as ds is with me (and I'm not even the driver, a mere passenger) but I don't see why the state has to get all heavy handed with people who do. If they want to ban smoking completely, they should be honest about it, not take a piecemeal approach.

southeastastra · 14/05/2007 13:24

yes i agree with edam. ban them entirely or just let smokers be.

edam · 14/05/2007 13:26

It'd be a bit of a bugger if they did ban smoking entirely and we had X million people all grumpy about giving up at the same time though... would make for a less than cheerful month or so.

Original poster
mrcandmre · 14/05/2007 13:28

road rage would go through the roof!

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