BANNING SMOKING AT THE WHEEL

Road safety officers today said that they were worried that the smoking ban in July would increase the amount of people smoking at the wheel and that the government should ban it.

What absolute *Bad word*.

disgusting habit though..smoking in cars..!

It will be banned in works vehicles won't it?

I was once hit from behind at a traffic light in glasgow. The driver was reaching into his glove compartment for his cigarettes at the time and I was a sitting duck with nowhere to go.

No different than reaching for CDs, sandwiches, mobile phones etc, of course..!

Yes it will be banned in works vehicles.

yeah, it is not allowed in any vehicle that is used at a work place up here.

I am actually in two minds about it. I, when I was smoking, did have a couple of panic moments where I dropped my cig while driving however I can honestly say that I pulled over immediately and THEN got it. However I get that a lot of people would tey and get it back while NOT stopping.

Also, while I was smoking, there was NO way that I would have been able to drive the length of myself let alone the country without lighting up. My road rage is bad enough thank you very much.

SOOOO, to conclude - I really don't know on this one!

I think it is a horrible thing - smoking in cars, nothing worse than getting in a car after a smoker..

but, linked directly to this legislation, i think it is going too far.
that said, nothing has happened, just someone campaigning..

I used to smoke in my car and I never found it got in the way of my driving. I do however see some people driving funny when they are trying to light their fags.

I thought it was against the law to eat in the car (I remember a man being fined for eating a kit-kat or something while driving) so it would make sense to ban smoking too. (I have temporarily fallen off the smoking wagon by the way so am guilty of smoking in my car too).

spoilt_little_brat wrote:

I used to smoke in my car and I never found it got in the way of my driving.

Wasn't you that hit me up the rear then...

wendybull wrote:

I thought it was against the law to eat in the car (I remember a man being fined for eating a kit-kat or something while driving) so it would make sense to ban smoking too. (I have temporarily fallen off the smoking wagon by the way so am guilty of smoking in my car too).

Possibly fined for driving without due care and attention, rather than fined for driving while eating,. It was like that with mobile phone usage for a long time.

It makes sense to prosecute if the person is driving without care and attention but where do you draw the line, listening to music can be distracting, talking to someone also, I find it mildly distracting trying to eat my cheeseburger and fries while balancing my drink on my knees especially when the kids are misbehaving in the back.

I thought it was against the law to eat while driving too. I remember a woman being stopped in Northants for eating an apple or something and then a week or so later a police man was caught eating at the wheel too.

The thing with smoking while driving is that you dont have to look at what you are doing while smoking so your eyes never should come off the road anyway.

I also used to find it relaxing to smoke while driving on the motorway or busy roads.

I think its quite common to smoke while you're driving....(she says having another Margo Leadbetter moment)

Yes and you dont have to talk to your cigarette whilst smoking it when driving lol.

spoilt_little_brat wrote:

I thought it was against the law to eat while driving too. I remember a woman being stopped in Northants for eating an apple or something and then a week or so later a police man was caught eating at the wheel too.
.

They were prosecuted for driving without due care and attention (Careless Driving or CDxx offences)

Which is exactly why we dont need a law for smoking, as it is covered already

fizzywizzy wrote:

I think its quite common to smoke while you're driving....(she says having another Margo Leadbetter moment)

I meant common as in chav-ish, uncouth, etc rather than that it happens alot BTW..

fizzywizzy wrote:

I meant common as in chav-ish, uncouth, etc ..

Why ?

It isnt against the law !!

helencbradshaw wrote:

spoilt_little_brat wrote:

I thought it was against the law to eat while driving too. I remember a woman being stopped in Northants for eating an apple or something and then a week or so later a police man was caught eating at the wheel too.
.

They were prosecuted for driving without due care and attention (Careless Driving or CDxx offences)

Which is exactly why we dont need a law for smoking, as it is covered already

Thanks for clearing that up, wasn't sure at at all as I said where the law stands on things like eating etc.

In that case then you are right, there is already something in place so whats the point.

WormThatTurned wrote:

fizzywizzy wrote:

I meant common as in chav-ish, uncouth, etc ..

Why ?

It isnt against the law !!

It's just one of those irrational dislikes I have...seeing someone eat something from Greggs in the street is another one....

I often have a spicy chicken slice from Greggs, ulp !!

I prefer a steak bake......

Drewboy your such a chav !!

WormThatTurned wrote:

Drewboy your such a chav !!

I prefer the term scally.

drewboy wrote:

WormThatTurned wrote:

Drewboy your such a chav !!

I prefer the term scally.

Doesn't scally imply some kind of criminality, whereas chav is generally someone of the social underclass

WormThatTurned wrote:

I often have a spicy chicken slice from Greggs, ulp !!

In Newcastle Greggs is the gastronmoic home of the chav.

It is so embarrasing that we even have one at the airport. Someone told me that, on a holiday flight, they saw someone who had loaded up on Greggs rubbish to take away with them.

WormThatTurned wrote:

fizzywizzy wrote:

I meant common as in chav-ish, uncouth, etc ..

Why ?

It isnt against the law !!

Neither is having your hair bleached AND permed, wearing big hoop earings, getting pregnant at 15 (oops, no that one technically IS illegal but nobody seems to give a damn) or going round saying 'bovvered'. But I'm with Fizz that they are all pretty common and very common (i.e. both senses of the word).

And isn't a scally just a scouse chav?

Now Im a chav I shall have to go the whole hog and get kitted out with a cap and hoodie