If it's illegal to use a Phone Whilst driving surely SMOKING is ILLEGAL too?
 

Ive noticed a lot of people getting fines for mobile phone usage and even people getting knuckles rapped for eating and/or drinking in vehicles.

Surely then smoking is Illegal in cars aswell

If so then DONT fit cigarrette lighters and dont have ashtrays??

what does everyone think?

paul (non smoker)

thought the same myself. Lets face it, if you drop a lit cigarette while driving I think it would put you off a bit more than making a phone call.

Technically it could be. Driving without due care and attention. There have been people done for drinking and eating while driving etc etc. Anything that is considered a distraction could be classed in this way.

Chris

yet car manufacturers almost encourage people to smoke by providing cigarette lighters & ashtrays

how many cars can you buy with a free mobile phone or mini-bar???

Cigarette lighters are actually of use for other things remember. Mine powers my Road Angel as I haven't got round to hard wiring it. Had a car a while back that had no lighter and it was a real PITA

so if the lighter socket it useful WHY put a lighter in it??

my wifes car has 2 sockets 1 has a lighter in it the other a removable cap

Maybe they should rename it to a power outlet and scrap the cigarette lighter completely it serves no usefull purpose exept to fill the hole in.

And I agree 100% smoking should be made illegal in cars.

Lighter and ashtray aren't necessarily for the use of the driver. Most cars take more than one person.

It's probably illegal to drive while sitting in the back seat, but manufacturers still fit one.

slightly confusing analogy with the backseat thing but i'd agree with the point regarding taking more than one person.

why not make buying a ciagarette lighter for the power socket and OPTIONAL extra then?

Good point!! Seems we were all focusing on the driver! Mind you I don't let people use the ash tray in my car anyway, coins are not nice to pick up when covered in ash :D

I suspect that for the few pence difference in the cost, most people wouldn't be too bothered about it. Nothing to stop you asking to not have a lighter fitted in the power socket of course, am sure the mechanics will be happy to whip it out during the PDI, or of course you could do it yourself.

As Chris L says - the police can use the catch all 'driving without due care and attention'. They can also use this for mobiles as a friend found out when she was done before the mobile law came in. (She couldn't drive for toffees without a 'phone in her hand so I can see why!!). So they can also use the same law for smoking.

Doh! Just realised. No traffic police to see the offense these days. But just wait until you get flashed by a speed camera WITH a fag in your hand!!


As for ash trays in cars encouraging smoking - all smokers throw their fag ends out of the window anyway ...... asked a friend once why he did that ' 'cos it makes the car smell...'..... HELLO!!!!!!!

Dave

also i dont know about anyone here but im a non smoker and if a passenger asked to smoke in my car i'd politely say no.


edited to add .. my wife has just got a new car and that had a Smokers pack as an option on it .....

most cars have cup holders.


ban it i say. one summer a few years ago my friend was driving his mini. he managed to knock the "cherry" off his cigarette when he knocked it into the steering wheel. the cherry dropped off and landed in his shorts leg. this led to emergency stop i have even seen!

ban it. hate people flicking cigarettes out of the window as well. bounce of the road straight into your car.

There are a lot of things that could be classed as driving without due care and attention (including smoking).

Has anyone ever been in a car and the driver decides to face you and talk whilst driving? this has happened to me a few times and I would say this is a classic case of driving without due care.

Who was the guy on here who said a few months ago that his wife/GF sulked as he wouldn't look at her when talking to her (while driving)? That was a classic... :D

jjones agreed didn't think about the cup holders..... where do we stop??

Need to ban passengers and ICE as well as they are a distraction :D

I think they should ban driving past my local college at about 3.45pm - very distracting in the summer months I can tell you! :D

On a serious note - as an ex smoker of 6 months, I used to drive whilst smoking. Unlike the penile swedes who hold a phone to their ear while driving, I only had my hand off the wheel for a quick toke on the filter, then back to "ten to two" on the wheel. So I had as much control over my car as someone flicking through tunes on their ICE or using a manual gearbox. An emergency handbrake turn might have proved a potential blister encountering experience, but in 12 years of driving I've never had to perform one????? :)

As for the disgust of flicking cigs out the window - oh my god!! I know I get annoyed at the odd daft advert on the telly, but whats a one ounce cig filter going to do to your car give it wheel cancer???

P

You are all forgetting one thing it takes much more concentration to talk to someone while holding a phone and trying to drive than it does to smoke a fag

AND I DONT SMOKE

doesnt take anymore concentration to eat than to smoke and when you eat your vision isn't blurred by smoke people have still got done for eating and/or drinking therefore why not smoking

agree with your point regarding telephone tho, BUT people still talk to passengers which takes their concentration away from the road

If you're going to end up banning talking to passengers, things are getting a bit ridiculous...

im not im just point out that maybe that telephone usage isn't much more distracting than other things.

Why is it illegal?

if it is driving without due care is that because you haven't got both hands on the wheel?

or down to the talking/concentration bit?

weren't you smoking whe I saw you on saturday morning???;)

I agree. Back seat drivers should be totally illegal and banned. That would shut my wife up a treat.

:D

Has Noone on here EVER been asked while making a quote for insurance if they smoke?

I think that insurance companies have thought this through and will charge MORE if you smoke!!

Anyway WHY can a taxi driver pick up his/her radio mic every 10-20 mins and NOT get fined :confused: still using 1 hand and not looking at the road so what's the difference?

IIRC CB radio's in trucks and other similar hand held, non mobile phone, devices used to contact their base are also exempt.

Just my opinion, but I don't think that talking on the phone whilst driving , regardless of it being hand held or not, should be allowed. You're not thinking about your driving whilst your struggling mentally to consider a response to a difficult question...see people on roundabouts on a daily basis babbling away with no indication, or exiting at a different junction to the one they are indicating for.....people drive badly enough already, without having a distraction of this nature!

Nice - though as I typed I was thinking of Hightower in the original Police Academy...

Lol - Sure was Simon - I am a "social smoker now" its the extra healthy alternative! ;) I didnt realise you'd packed in till ya told me D'oh!

As for impaired vision from the smoke - thats a bit of a silly thing to say!!?? I suppose if its Delboy smoking a cuban with the windows up and no fans on you might be onto something???? :D

I have witnessed people cruising 70mph constant but then ringadingding and without them realising they're dropping speed while staying in the same lane (usually the middle) and theyre using the cats eyes as tracks as the gently move left and right of the lane but on a straight piece of road!!

If you can afford to own and use a mobile phone then you can afford the car kit. if you dont want to have a car kit turn the chuffing thing off or pull over in a safe place to use it...How hard can it be...

Stressful day at work - great thread for a blast :D