Doctors call for smoking ban in cars

joshua

Well-Known Forumite
Smoking is a dilemma for most governments. It provides a shedload of tax, but costs a lot in care when the smokers are dying early and there is a subsequent loss of taxable income when they have popped off.

The ideal remedy is to let them smoke in a coastal field with an offshore wind and make them pay for there own palliative care.

All this banning talk is nonsense, smoking is an excellent form of population control and if handled carefully would be cost effective.

The suggested ban isn't being mooted due to the normal risks of smoking but because (according to reports) some of the worst carcinogens linger in the fabric of the car and can effect innocent parties well after a cigarette has been extinguished.

If you were only killing yourselves and had full control of the vehicle at all times, then fair enough, feel free to smoke in the car.
 

Alee

Well-Known Forumite
I personally don't think banning smoking in cars will really make much difference..parents who are willing to smoke in a car with their children are more than likely to be smoking indoors at home. At least when they are smoking in the car they have the window open....I think maybe more awareness is needed.

"(according to reports) some of the worst carcinogens linger in the fabric of the car and can effect innocent parties well after a cigarette has been extinguished.: -- I didnt know this, i smoke in the car if im not with my son , wont be doing it again!...reading this has made me think twice
 

Rikki

Well-Known Forumite
joshua said:
(according to reports) some of the worst carcinogens linger in the fabric of the car and can effect innocent parties well after a cigarette has been extinguished.
As always never pay to much attention to any reports/studies/statistics etc you see quoted in the media.
 

speak65

Well-Known Forumite
I don't smoke but think this is total Nanny state overdrive if this is enforced.

I could understand if it were for reasons of road safety when driving - never really understood that when eating, drinking or talking on the phone is banned, why having a smoke is deemed safe - I mean if you drop a bit of cheese sandwich, you aren't really going to panic too much unlike an ember of a ciggie!

Like Alee, I think that those who smoke in a car with children may stop doing it in the car, but will sadly probably carry on elsewhere in their presence.
 

Vault_girl

Well-Known Forumite
speak65 said:
I could understand if it were for reasons of road safety when driving - never really understood that when eating, drinking or talking on the phone is banned, why having a smoke is deemed safe - I mean if you drop a bit of cheese sandwich, you aren't really going to panic too much unlike an ember of a ciggie!
This is the reason I think smoking in a car should be banned. You cant take a sip of water but you can hold something which is on fire! I don't care about passengers smoking but people driving shouldn't be allowed to drive and smoke at the same time. It's surely far more distracting than taking a bite of a sandwich or sipping a drink
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Vault_girl said:
speak65 said:
I could understand if it were for reasons of road safety when driving - never really understood that when eating, drinking or talking on the phone is banned, why having a smoke is deemed safe - I mean if you drop a bit of cheese sandwich, you aren't really going to panic too much unlike an ember of a ciggie!
This is the reason I think smoking in a car should be banned. You cant take a sip of water but you can hold something which is on fire! I don't care about passengers smoking but people driving shouldn't be allowed to drive and smoke at the same time. It's surely far more distracting than taking a bite of a sandwich or sipping a drink
I agree with you. If it's dangerous to hold a mobile phone and drive or to eat or drink and drive then surely it must be dangerous to smoke and drive. Therefore I'd say that smoking and driving should be put in the same category as the others as anything which causes you to take a hand off the steering wheel that's not part of the process of driving could potentially be dangerous.

As for banning smoking in private cars per se then that would be totally over the top and unnecessary state interference. Same as banning smoking in the home.
 

henryscat

Well-Known Forumite
speak65 said:
I don't smoke but think this is total Nanny state overdrive if this is enforced.

I could understand if it were for reasons of road safety when driving - never really understood that when eating, drinking or talking on the phone is banned, why having a smoke is deemed safe - I mean if you drop a bit of cheese sandwich, you aren't really going to panic too much unlike an ember of a ciggie!

Like Alee, I think that those who smoke in a car with children may stop doing it in the car, but will sadly probably carry on elsewhere in their presence.
Eating/drinking isn't an offence - but not having proper control of your vehicle is. Eating/drinking whilst it will have an effect on your control of the vehicle isn't really in the same league as using the phone which both affects physical control (because you are holding a phone), and concentration (because you are conversing with someone you can't see, it takes more concentration).

I can see reasons for banning smoking at the wheel though. It already is banned in a lot of vehicles because smoking in work places is banned. One of the points made on the radio was about smoking in the car with children - if only that was banned, then enforcement would be difficult as a police officer has to spot there's a sprog in the car as well as the driver smoking. Spotting just a driver smoking is easier.
 

andy w

Well-Known Forumite
I don't and never have smoked but I feel a lot of sympathy for smokers. When the smoking ban was first proposed there were options to allow smoking in designated rooms without food being served.This sounded a good compromise but was ditched for a total ban and now we have the sight of smokers outside pubs and buildings in all weathers.
Yes smoking to many people smoking is anti-social but smokers should be given places to go and should not be haranged by the health police.
 

Neon Jay

Are we there yet?
Vault_girl said:
It's surely far more distracting than taking a bite of a sandwich or sipping a drink
Less distracting than a car full of screaming little ones? Doubtful. It takes me less cognitive effort to smoke than to decide what radio station to tune into, and as for dropping a lit ciggie, well, you're evidently not holding it well enough and therefore caused your own problem...

Plus, with the way a lot of the muppets out there drive, sometimes I need to smoke to stay sane...
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
1. Don't smoke
2. Don't smoke in the pub
3. Don't smoke in your car
4. Don't smoke in your house

I fail on the first hurdle, but manage the other three - legislation or otherwise.

Self-regulation is desirable, statutory regulation mops up the intransigent.

Innit?
 

dangerousdave

Well-Known Forumite
as someone who does smoke i think a total ban on smoking whilst driving is over the top. like a few others have said, there is plenty of other things people do which are far more distracting for a driver (will we be banning billboards near roads? talking to passengers? changing the radio station? etc). i never even saw the need for the ban on people driving whilst using a mobile phone, we already had the offence of driving without due care and attention which surely covered this. what is it with politicians infatuation for introducing more laws (many of which they either they think don't apply to them (such as the new anti bribery laws), or they actually choose shouldn't apply to them (such as the smoking ban in all public places))
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
dangerousdave said:
(will we be banning billboards near roads? etc)
There is a perpetual billboard defacing offender here, who when i was last there had managed to cover one of the boards in a lusty "YOU NEED MORE STUFF".

As someone who also smokes, smoking is worse than that.
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
Having a cig whilst driving on a long journey helps to keep me more alert and awake, especially if I don't have a passenger to talk to.
And I don't have to worry about dropping a lit cig anymore either since being on the digital cigs rather than analogues. ;)




Admin edit: Added link to electronic cigarette thread.
 

shoes

Well-Known Forumite
Vault_girl said:
speak65 said:
I could understand if it were for reasons of road safety when driving - never really understood that when eating, drinking or talking on the phone is banned, why having a smoke is deemed safe - I mean if you drop a bit of cheese sandwich, you aren't really going to panic too much unlike an ember of a ciggie!
This is the reason I think smoking in a car should be banned. You cant take a sip of water but you can hold something which is on fire! I don't care about passengers smoking but people driving shouldn't be allowed to drive and smoke at the same time. It's surely far more distracting than taking a bite of a sandwich or sipping a drink
Not at all, especially when you've smoked for more than a few months, it becomes a habit - second nature - you don't even think about it. I don't find it distracting in the slightest.

I find the cravings for a cigarette when driving far more distracting.
 
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