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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:

rabbleraiser · 14/05/2007 13:31

Agree with the OP. This isn't about road safety, this is about smoking and those who'd like to see it banned everywhere, indoors, outdoors and in your neighbour's garden.

As a nation, we've currently got nothing better to do than get litigious.

I'm afraid that, if enforced, this is a law that I would just have to break.

EricaL · 14/05/2007 14:17

I use a 'Stubbi' i got from Hackney Council. Its a foil-lined heatproof plastic wallet that you put your stubs in and then stick it in your bag or wherever.
Although - if i'm in the car for a while and i want a fag it goes out of the window cos i would crash if i fiddled about with it....
What next? Banning talking, eating, turning the radio on, giving the kids a back-swipe? (ahem)..........
Most crashes and near misses i have seen have been caused by either speeding, or eejits not checking their mirrors/blind spots before making a move..........
NOT SMOKING!!

ekra · 14/05/2007 14:19

As far as I can tell, there isn't any evidence to show that smoking a cigarette at the wheel causes more road accidents.

There seems to be more of a case for banning smoking in a car if you're carrying a passenger under the age of 18 to prevent them from inhaling secondhand smoke. New Zealand research shows with all the car windows open, smoke pollution is equivalent to sitting in the smokiest bar

I can see the problem with banning smoking in cars, since it is unlikely and unfeasible to ban smoking in one's own home.

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 14/05/2007 14:20

And in the grand scheme of littering fags are a very very small thing...

BradfordMum · 14/05/2007 14:57

Ban it - I saw a lady the other have to swerve as she tried to put her seatbelt on while smoking AND driving. It just shows where her priorities lay.

TeeJaye · 14/05/2007 15:27

"There really is no need whatsoever to operate a vehicle travelling at 70mph whilst holding a burning little stick in one hand."

This post by geekgrrl made me laugh but it says it all really, doesn't it?

tissy · 14/05/2007 15:30

ekra, what about passengers over 18?

Ban it, I say!

ekra · 14/05/2007 15:41

Passengers over 18 are old enough to decide for themselves if they want to travel inside a smoke-filled vehicle.

paulaplumpbottom · 14/05/2007 16:03

It is a distracton. I think it should be banned. Anything to help people stop smoking has got to be a plus

ekra · 14/05/2007 16:13

But there are no statistics to show that it is more of a dsitraction than doing other things like eating, changing radio stations, daydreaming

I'm not a smoker and will be very happy when I can enter a pub without inhaling others' secondhand smoke, but I don't think this has been well thought out. If it is in the interests of others health then the ban should only apply to drivers who have minors as passengers.

suejonez · 14/05/2007 16:14

if this is about the new non-smoking rules coming in July, then the ban is only on smoking in COmpany cars when there is more than one person in the car (even if both are smokers). The employer will have a duty to protect staff from second hand smoke so no-one can be exposed to smoke in work premises or vehicles however vehicles that are predominantly for private purposes will not be required to be smoke free unless other colleauges are expected to use the car.

fannyannie · 14/05/2007 16:16

"Most crashes and near misses i have seen have been caused by either speeding, or eejits not checking their mirrors/blind spots before making a move..........
NOT SMOKING!!"

But what about when the nonsmoking eejit doesn't check their blind spot - and makes a stupid manouvre forcing someone that IS holding a cigarette to have to try and avoid them........quite probably dropping the cigarette in the meantime........

butterflywings · 14/05/2007 16:17

MissGolightly and Fannyannie, I always feel sooo bad for dropping by cigarette butts on the floor when there is no bin around as I'm really fussy when it comes to littering. I feel like a right hypocrite.

When on holiday, I saw some portable ashtrays but they all had a marijuana leaf design on them, and I realy didn't want that so I ended up not buying one.

But I've just found 100s of the bloody things online with more acceptable designs on them so I shall buy one and feel so much better when I smoke outdoors

Here's an example

LadyTophamHatt · 14/05/2007 16:17

IMO smoking should be banned EVERYWHERE

MrsSpoon · 14/05/2007 16:24

Yes, afterall if you get points on your licence/pulled over for eating an apple then why not for smoking, IMO it is more hazardous.

On a side point, we have the smoking ban here in Scotland which is great, love being able to go in to cafes and pubs and not have to endure the smoke and come out reeking but it has increased the number of people smoking in the street and at times it can be quite unpleasant trying to get through busy crowds when it seems most of them are 'avin' a fag!

contentiouscat · 14/05/2007 16:25

"Most people...eat whilst driving, change c.ds, use the radio, use sat-nav"

If the police wanted to be pedantic any of the above could be classed as driving without due care and attention and are therefore offences.

My ex boss told me how he used to drive at 60 up the M4 Slipway with a hot cup of coffee in his hand - again if he spilt it in his lap (like dropping a cigarette) retrieving it would have been his primary concern and not driving which when you are in a moving car should be your main focus.

tbh banning it perhaps would not be a bad thing but like the mobile phone issue it is impossible to police really.

DominiConnor · 14/05/2007 16:28

kookaburra, they are allowed to smoke in their own cars. You can even smoke in a work vehicle if no one else uses it.

edam · 14/05/2007 16:37

DC, you often aren't allowed to smoke in your own car if you use it for work - community NHS staff, for instance. (I know healthcare profs. should know better, but many do smoke.)

suejonez · 14/05/2007 16:38

if other colleagues or the public are expected to use the car then you cannot smoke in it, however if it is predominantly for your private use then you can.

DominiConnor · 14/05/2007 17:30

I was quoting the guide to employers I got, which I would call well done if it wasn't so politically correct.

sweetkitty · 14/05/2007 17:41

yes they should ban it but I don't know how they can actually police it TBH

my view is clouded as I was one of those children in the back of a car whilst both parents puffed away, (my Dad is a 60 a day man who literally puts one out lights one up) both my brother and I hated being in the car for this reason and our parents used to tell us off for hanging our heads out the window!

DominiConnor · 14/05/2007 17:52

There's a whole pile of dodgy driving that's pathetically easy to enforce, like using phones whilst driving, etc.
The problem is the most people don't want enforcement for them, and even mild attempts to stop the single biggest cause of kids between 2 and 10 being traffic get shot down.
My "favourite" is the spokeswoman for some cycling pressure group saying that "only" two or three kids are killed by cyclists on paths per year.
So that's alright then...

You want to stop mobile phone usage in cars ?
Easy.
Point a camera at windscreen height, and err that's it.
If you want to get clever, you access the phone records of anyone who has an accident, and if it was active, you up the penatly big time.
But that won't happen. Too many Daily Mail readers would get caught, and "how were they to know ?. It was an accident, and I was only doing 7 MPH over the limit when I hit that kid".

butterflywings · 14/05/2007 17:55

Yeah but DC, would they actually track these people down and fine them or whatever?

The police are far too busy doing bugger-all to bother about people smoking in their cars or using mobile phones.

I once saw someone using a mobile phone whilst driving and the police ignored them (they were driving parallel to them)

PeachyChocolateEClair · 14/05/2007 19:00

WRT to the company car thing, if DH (workd for a large hauliers) allows one of his drivers to smoke in their lorry HE can be fined personally a large amount of money.

He's quite happy with it though, as he loathes smkoing and as he and I have noth found in the past, its an industry where smokers have long seemed to dominayte, I ahted being PG with ds1 and working in the field, as the offices were filled with smoke all the time (also with ds3 for completely different industry when it was commented on I didnt participate in decision making- because it was allcarried out at the smokers area- and I should just try not to inhale )

Anyway.

Went out recently for the first time since ban came into place here. Was lovely- eyes didnt hurt, clothes didnt reek either. The smokers in our group popped outside when they wanted to smoke. Much mroe pleasant imo.

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