Smoking in cars

[Davidc]

[RANT MODE ON]

Yesterday evening I was on my bike in a queue of traffic leaving Sainsbury's.

The drivers and occupiers of 4 cars in front of me had been deprived of their nicotine while shopping, and all lit up.

The fumes coming out of those cars were being blown back towards me and were strong and smelly. I know from past experience that people in cars will have been smelling it too.

Surely, if using a mobile phone is too much of a distraction while driving having a cigarette between your fingers must be as well?

Surely having the atmosphere inside a car full of smoke must detract from driving ability?

Why should the rest of us have to put up with the smell, in places we can't escape from it?

The rant is because it happened again today waiting at a red light going into town and I've just realised my clothes smell of it.

Any one agree with me?

[RANT MODE OFF/]

 

[Kirstie]

[RANT MODE ON]

Yesterday evening I was on my bike in a queue of traffic leaving Sainsbury's.

The drivers and occupiers of 4 cars in front of me had been deprived of their nicotine while shopping, and all lit up.

The fumes coming out of those cars were being blown back towards me and were strong and smelly. I know from past experience that people in cars will have been smelling it too.

Surely, if using a mobile phone is too much of a distraction while driving having a cigarette between your fingers must be as well?

Surely having the atmosphere inside a car full of smoke must detract from driving ability?

Why should the rest of us have to put up with the smell, in places we can't escape from it?

The rant is because it happened again today waiting at a red light going into town and I've just realised my clothes smell of it.

Any one agree with me?

[RANT MODE OFF/]

You can always tell when someone in a car is smoking even if they drive past you when you are cycling, rather than if they are in a traffic jam. I don't like it much but there's not a lot I can do about it...other than hold my breath!

 

[Globalti]

Once, when I was 18 and had just started to drive, I lit up a Consulate in my parents' VW camper as I was driving. I was so shocked at the way it dulled my sense of what was going on around me that I threw it out of the window. That was without the fiddling around, lighting and holding the damned thing and preventing myself from getting burned by the ash.

 

[gbb]

Do i agree....no.
I doesnt matter whether i'm walking down the street smoking (which is perfectly legal of course, just as is driving your car while smoking), either way, i'm probably going to offend someone a little. So, are they to ban smoking altogether. Of course not.

FWIW, i was a non smoker for much longer than i've been a (very light) smoker. It never bothered me when i didnt smoke.

I do understand it smells and may not be pleasant to some, but the alternative is to ban smoking altogether....but that's never going to happen is it.

It's like a lot of things in life. Something will bother someone else....ban everything.

 

[Fnaar]

I'm an occasional sparker-upper (not very often these days) but in the days when I smoked much much more, I never smoked while driving... too much going on... dangerous

 

[Joe24]

My dad smokes alot.
Please don't ban smoking in cars, he would be very irritable, frigidity and annoying.
It will NOT be a good thing to have happen.

How i see it, if you stop people smoking i cars, you will have alot of people needing their nicotine fix, who wont stop to have a smoke because they want to keep going, getting very stressed out.

But, if you stop them smoking in cars, you would also have to stop them smoking on the pavement(can sometimes smell it then aswell) or practically anywhere.

I was at Alton Towers on Wednesday, and there was a woman in the queue infront of me and my GF, who just lit up. I was well annoyed, no wind meant the smoke didn't blow away, and it even said on signs before the queue no smoking.

Idiot

 

[John the Monkey]

[RANT MODE ON]
Surely, if using a mobile phone is too much of a distraction while driving having a cigarette between your fingers must be as well?

You're misunderstanding why using a mobile is dangerous while driving.

It's not the fact that your hands are occupied, it seems to be the fact that you're carrying on a conversation with someone not in the car. (This is why, despite the appearance given by the legislation banning hand held mobile phone use, hands-free conversations distract drivers by nearly as much where comparative studies have been done. Conversations with a passenger don't have the same effect on hazard perception and reaction time.

 

[Mr Pig]

Oh hear we go!

I've never smoked, I hate the smell of smoke and think smokers are idiots but good grief, give them a break! I'm sick to death of the self-appointed Gestapo who think it's their right to condemn everyone else for doing anything other than what they personal feel is acceptable.

Someone smoking in their own car? NO? A hideous crime!!

 

[Davidc]

I'm an occasional sparker-upper (not very often these days) but in the days when I smoked much much more, I never smoked while driving... too much going on... dangerous

Years ago so was I - and agree with you 100%

The only place with a more vile atmosphere than inside a car with someone smoking used to be the smoking allowed sections of tube trains at 5 past 5 when 500 people from offices simultaneously lit up their first since lunch time!

 

[Joe24]

Oh hear we go!

I've never smoked, I hate the smell of smoke and think smokers are idiots but good grief, give them a break! I'm sick to death of the self-appointed Gestapo who think it's their right to condemn everyone else for doing anything other than what they personal feel is acceptable.

Someone smoking in their own car? NO? A hideous crime!!

Very true, let them smoke, i don't hear you moaning about the smell coming from the cars exhaust!!!

It could all be worse ofcourse, i opened the car door when my dad had sat in it to have a fag when we were at the caravan. That was nasty.

 

[tyred]

It's my car, I'll do as I please.

To ban smoking while driving will cause a lot of irritated drivers, leading more road rage incidents. What comes out of the car's exhaust is probably more harmful than the tobacco smoke anyway.

 

[Joe]

People smoking in cars doesn't bother me, people throwing their fag ends out of their car windows on the other hand

 

[Greedo]

If someone smokes and wants to smoke then in their own car then so be it.

I used to smoke about 20/30 a day but don't now. I never smoked in my car though. Even I hated the smell of smoke in a car.

Not had a smoke for years but nearly did on holiday last week. Always feel like smoking when on holiday for some reason.

 

[Mr Pig]

Bad barbecues too. They give off carcinogens, deposit them on the food and pollute the atmosphere.

 

[XmisterIS]

I used to smoke like a chimney many years ago, When I stopped smoking, I remember noticing how much my car stank! I drove that car for two more years after I'd stopped smoking and I could never get that stale, musty smoke smell completely out of it.