No smoking in private cars

[robertjrt]

Following my recent post on a "No smoking pier" I have found a "No smoking park", now, according to todays Daily Telegraph ASH is proposing no smoking in our cars, what next?

 

[verytalldave]

Its only a proposal/suggestion by a doctor - and only when you are carrying children in the car.

 

[robertjrt]

Its only a proposal/suggestion by a doctor - and only when you are carrying children in the car.

We have been here before, what starts out as "good advice" becomes a regulation on the grounds that some parents are ignoring the advice.

As a father and grandfather I applaud all efforts to protect the young, seat belts, in the back seat etc, but, where does it stop?

 

[Alex M Grieve]

Following my recent post on a "No smoking pier" I have found a "No smoking park", now, according to todays Daily Telegraph ASH is proposing no smoking in our cars, what next?

I do sometimes wonder whether drivers are smoking while driving, or driving while smoking?

If I was to suggest to you that , while driving (that task alone seems too much for many), you should: take your attention off the road, find a cigarette packet, open it, take out one cigarette, place it in your mouth, find an ignition source, light the cigarette, return to the task in hand (driving) - you would probably tell me that was an unsafe activity likely to lead to an accident (= unplanned event).

We have not yet considered how you manage this burning object in the car, where you put the ash (many drivers keep their window open to flick the ash out, keeping their ash tray pristine as a selling point in future), and finally extinguish (for certain) and dispose of the remnant.

Not all ash or cigarette butts thrown out of the window stay outside the car. Ever seen burn marks on the rear seat?

People will say that outlawing cigarette smoking in cars is "big brother". In fact, it is only common sense and good practice. But like cell phone use, the prohibition is probably unenforceable (even if the police were interested).

So the debate will raise hackles and run and run - but the facts are pretty straightforward.

 

[Miffy]

another side to is that if its ilegal to eat and drink whilst driving, why should it be legal to smoke, surly both distract you from driving to the same effect?

 

[chrislarkin]

another side to is that if its ilegal to eat and drink whilst driving, why should it be legal to smoke, surly both distract you from driving to the same effect?

I agree with banning the smoking in cars. It's already banned over here(ireland) in taxis/vans/trucks that are deemed places of work or company vehicles. I'd like to see a blanket ban. The amount of cigarettes you see being tossed from windows resulting in litter, can create possible fire hazards as they might start one in dry conditions and are a road hazard to motorcyclists and cyclists as they make get a burn or one in the eye. Not to mention the awful smell. My mums a smoker.

 

[Micman]

Maybe we could introduce a crazy law in the style of an EU directive from Brussels along the lines of...

1) Smoking allowed in your car but only when you are the only person in it.
- 1a) Smoking in a car and then opening the window however, would be illegal under the 'no smoking in public' act (as that then pollutes other peoples space!)

I think it could work..... he he :lol:

 

[gbtyke]

I don't smoke - have never smoked - but I am absolutely sick to the back teeth of every day some interfering busybody coming with something for which they have 'the facts' to control another aspect of my life. Whatever happened to the 'live and let live' attitude of this country.

Think I'll pop down the corner shop now for a look at the cig display so that it can corrupt me.

 

[teddycatkin]

If we were meant to smoke we would have been born with a hole in the top of our heads ?---I started smoking at 10 years old in the 1950,s packs of 5 woody,s and park drive--the true dangers of damage to health were not generlly recognised then--by the early 80,s - I regulary smoked 60 strong cig,s ( Camels ) or roll ups a day and cigars in the evening ---my chest and lungs were fully coked up-it took several attempts to stop - but I did and now cannot abide the smell and nicotine stained atmosphere they create --another benifit poeple overlook you can actually taste the difference in food as the nicotine dulls all feelings-- hence the excuse -I only smoke to calm my nerves !-the truth is it slows you down and dulls all senses?

 

[Alex M Grieve]

If we were meant to smoke we would have been born with a hole in the top of our heads ?---I started smoking at 10 years old in the 1950,s packs of 5 woody,s and park drive--the true dangers of damage to health were not generally recognized then--by the early 80,s - I regularly smoked 60 strong cig,s ( Camels ) or roll ups a day and cigars in the evening ---my chest and lungs were fully coked up-it took several attempts to stop - but I did

I think giving up smoking after all that is a terrific achievement - you deserve all the heath benefits which will accrue!

Indeed, you should now be saving the sort of money that would enable you to use a dealership, rather than an Indy, and still have change?

 

[Daz Of Naz]

The only accident I've had that wasn't anyone elses fault (and luckly didn't involve any one else) was when my Saab 900 left the road at about 40mph on the south circular in Woolwich. I'd taken my eyes off the road for a split second as I'd seen a benson & hedges that had fallen down the side of my seat, and I thought I could reach it. That ciggy cost me the best part of £50 as it resulted in a puncture to my front nearside tyre, but I'm just lucky there was no pavement for pedestrians!

My friend got caught out by throwing his still glowing butt out the window forgetting that his back window was open. Luckly he realised very quickly what had happened, pulled over to deal with the burning embers, and only needed to replace the rear seat.

I'm an ex-smoker, but I'm not an anti-smoker. They should be prosecuted for littering if the butt goes out the window, and I agree that if you can't eat a kit-kat or an apple whilst driving then 'smoking whilst driving' should also be stopped. I used to 'need' a fag every 2-4 hours. How many journeys last that long?

 

[Dosco]

I agree that if you can't eat a kit-kat whilst driving /QUOTE]

NOW that is an infringement, if that is true I will continue to transgress the laws of the land...

On the subject of smoking I am fortunate that I have never had the desire to contaminate my internal tubes and other components in that way, however I did once try to 'smoke' a pipe until the bowl came loose and dropped into the rather sensitive area of my lap, starting a 'fire down below' whilst driving! Electrolux never did find out the true cause of me running off the road into a hedge bottom

 

[Alex M Grieve]

I did once try to 'smoke' a pipe until the bowl came loose and dropped into the rather sensitive area of my lap, starting a 'fire down below' whilst driving! Electrolux never did find out the true cause of me running off the road into a hedge bottom

That would explain your "glowing performance appraisal" that year the Roger?

 

[Dosco]

That would explain your "glowing performance appraisal" that year the Roger?

Morning Alex,

:Oops:Indeed it did but at the same time did nothing for my 'ego'

 

[BLK]

Is this discussion about road safety or is it just another excuse for non-smokers, and IN PARTICULAR, the "reformed smoker" to have a go at the social rights of another group of people in a discriminitive manner that has become very fasionable amongst the non-smoking elite!!!

If it is about road safety, which I doubt that it is, but let's imagine it is for a while and point out a few facts.

Firstly the issue of throwing cigarette ends out of the window. It's illegal, as is throwing anything else out of a vehicle window, so there is no debate there.

As any smoker will tell you, to remove a cigarette from a packet place it in your mouth and light it whilst driving is second nature, and if on the rare occasion it requires you to take your eyes off the road, it is for a period of time FAR LESS than glancing into your rear view mirror.

Smoking in a private vehicle does not pose any threat to road safety, it's just an excuse for the anti-smokers to push futher discriminative force against a group of people for whom discrimination is not only LEGAL but also fasionable.

So for all the non-smokers jumping on the band wagon to discriminate against smokers, perhaps they might like to consider some ot their own in-car activities that pose a far greater threat to road safety than smoking.

Mobile phones. Hand held are already banned of course, but any form of cellular communication whether hands free or not is one of the most distractive activities in a car and leads to accidents. It's been proved. BAN IT!

In car hi-fi - People changing CD or just looking for a particular track, or serching for radio stations etc... ALL very distracting and can lead to accidents. Hi-Fi's that are too loud, which in modern cars is generally all of them, they can prevent you from hearing warning signs. It's not just the siren's of emergency vehicle's or other motorists sounding their horn to warn you of an imminent danger, but also warning sounds from your own vehicle that may prevent an accident if heard but may kill you and others if not heard. BAN IT

iPods, MP3 players etc. More distracting than a hand held mobile phone. BAN IT!

SAT-NAV - A VERY unneccessary luxuary and VERY distracting. BAN IT!

ANY kind of food... even boiled sweets and especially chewing gum, the searching and unwrapping procedure is very distracting and dangerous. BAN IT!

Rear View Mirrors??? Do we need them? We have door mirrors for road safety but what is a rear view mirror for? I spent years driving commercial vehicles and therefore had no rear view mirror, so it is a course of habit for me that I use my door mirrors and not the rear view mirror. So what does the average car driver use his/her rear view mirror for? To take our eyes off the road for a good few seconds while we check to see if the car behind is our neighbour or someone driving a similar car? Check hair and make up? As a visual aid to chat with people in the rear passenger seats???

How can anyone genuinely argue that smoking is more dangerous than any of the above??? Smoking is second nature to a smoker and it has been medically proven that, for a regular smoker, nicotine ENHANCES their concentration and awareness, but the lack of it can vastly reduce their concentration and cause stress and tension. So is that who non smokers prefer to share the road with? A HUGE group of stressed out smokers lacking concentration?

It's so easy to jump on the discriminative band wagon... but has anyone actually thought this through??? If smoking is genuinely that dangerous in a car to actually go so far as to ban it, then we REALLY do need to be looking at the other range of in-car activities as listed above and many more too I guess!!!

 

[Alex M Grieve]

If smoking is genuinely that dangerous in a car to actually go so far as to ban it, then we REALLY do need to be looking at the other range of in-car activities as listed above and many more too I guess!!!

I could not agree more. All of the above activities distract and are likely to make the driver unsafe at the time they are otherwise occupied.

I appreciate that things can not realistically be banned (the cell phone legislation has proved unenforceable - or at least it is just not enforced), but because people have done things for years it does not make them a good idea.

People who drive with their right arm resting on the window sill generally display less attention than those who just keep two hands on the wheel. We see footage on TV of "highly trained police drivers" speaking to camera, right arm on the window sill, left hand on the gear lever, their radio hand set, or their lap. Where, and in which driving manual is that technique recommended?

It is a dreadful example, but "everyone does it". But that does not make it good practice, and it does not make it safe.

 

[The Crooner]

This has all gone a bit off topic - there is a suggestion that smoking in cars when children are passengers should be banned. Anyone really going to argue against that?

To suggest that anyone has suggested a blanket ban on smoking in cars is a distortion of Daily Mail proportions.

I have fond memories of holding the car on the clutch at traffic lights, filling and lighting my pipe. I dont smoke any more, like many I'm sure the financial cost and demonstrable health risk have taken what I used to think was a pleasure away from me.

What I am left with now is revulsion at the smell, disgust that I have to run the gauntlet of that smell outside railway stations which I have to use, and pubs which I used not to frequent.

I'm sure that I will get shot down in flames, but I think smoking should only be allowed in peoples own homes and gardens, but then given the problems that causes for those living in flats, maybe it should be banned completely.

But that's my view, and as I said above, not one that anyone is seriously considering.

Are they?

Tony

 

[BLK]

This has all gone a bit off topic - there is a suggestion that smoking in cars when children are passengers should be banned. Anyone really going to argue against that?

Well I certainly won’t argue against that! I make a point of not smoking in my car when my daughter is with me, but it bothers me considerably that anyone feels the need for legislation to ensure that parents exercise their duty of care, wouldn’t it be more appropriate to educate people on better parenting skills than to impose legislation that would simply be unenforceable?

ASH, the group proposing this legislation, are simply a group of anti-smokers who base all their proposals on the fact that they have a gross dislike for smokers and use health and safety issues as an ‘excuse’ for their cleverly disguised discrimination. ASH will always try to impose their discrimination in a strategically planned process. Look at their campaign against smoking in pubs! First it was segregated areas, then came the campaign for expensive ventilation and filtration systems and eventually a blanket ban. Now the LVA tell us official figures show that there are 1000 pubs a week in the UK going out of business. Well done Mr & Mrs ASH!!!

If anyone thinks that ASH’s proposal to ban smoking in private vehicles while children are present is ALL they are proposing then think again. It is stage one of a strategically planned campaign for a blanket ban. Then I guess they will move on to private dwellings and then gardens too, and why, simply because they are prejudiced and discriminative people of the highest order.

There is a big difference between a non-smoker and an anti-smoker. Non smokers are people who have chosen not to smoke and accept another person’s right to smoke if they so desire. Anti-smokers are people who feel they have a right to dictate to others what they can and can’t do, even when their prejudice VERY clearly has nothing to do with health and safety, but is just an expression of their deep hatred of smokers and a demonstration of their prejudiced and discriminative nature.

So please don’t be conned into believing that the anti-smoking group ASH have our children’s best interests at heart, they are only concerned with taking away the human rights of a social group of people for whom they hold a deep hatred.