is smoking legal whilst driving?

alastair84

alastair84

alastair84

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Joined
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Portsmouth
smoking cigarettes that is. my mum told me that it is illegal and you could get a fine or something if your at the wheel and having a fag. is this true?
 
IIRC you can be done for driving without due care and attention. Also, if you have a smash and the insurance company finds out you were smoking when you crashed they can now refuse to pay out IIRC.

Whether its specifically illegal that you cant smoke or not im not sure though.
 
yeh...i mean they make cars with ash trays in them so that would lead me to think it was legal. but then again they may see it like mobile phone usage whilst driving, so i wasn't sure.
 
I saw a guy about 3 feet away from my bumper on the M1 yesterday in an XK8. He was on the phone, and smoking at the same time.

All this while in the rain.

I WISH I had my camera on me at the time and would have taken a photo of him. (with my hands free camera obviously!)

:D

J
 
It's not illegal in itself, but just like changing the CD or fiddling with the air con, if you're not paying due care and attention you can be prosecuted.

Burnsy
 
BigglesPiP said:
Depends how badly it's smoking, police probably won't bother you but one of those VOSA roadside checks could go badly for you.
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"Sorry officer, my car's got into this filthy habit and refuses to stop. I can't take her into underground car parks or anything becuase of the smoking ban. I've tried my best but Boots don't do industrial size nicotine patches :( "

Burnsy
 
BigglesPiP said:
I think you can be done for sneezing now.
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lol amazingly, the daily mail* ran quite a happy story about a guy who crashed his car cos he sneezed and hit the curb and flipped over. He was then dragged out by a passer by when his car caught fire.

Rather than running it as a "O T-E-H NOES *** GOVARMANT AR TAKING OWER RYTES!!" story, they actually told the truth and just said the dude who dragged him out was brave and that the police said it was an accident and nothing more.


*disclaimer: probably the only story in that days mail that wasn't sensationalist in any way.
 
As others have said it's not illegal. However the law changed a few months back. It is now a lot easier for the police to prosecute you for driving without due care and attention if:

Smoking
loud music
fiddling with controls (A/C, stereo etc)
and a few other things I can't remember of the top of my head.
 
We are banned from smoking in the car if we are using it for work purposes, and there is anyone else in the car.

If you're driving for work and you have passengers, the car becomes your work place and its therefore illegal to smoke in it.
 
It's totally ludicrous.

I don't smoke but some of my employees do. They can't smoke in company car during work hours, even if they are on their own.

When they are driving home can they smoke in it or is it still their workplace?

Totally baffles me to be honest and near enough impossible for me to enforce.
 
Third Opinion said:
It's totally ludicrous.

I don't smoke but some of my employees do. They can't smoke in company car during work hours, even if they are on their own.

When they are driving home can they smoke in it or is it still their workplace?

Totally baffles me to be honest and near enough impossible for me to enforce.
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Its only if you have someone else in the car in our company, which I think is fair enough.

If you're on your own its up to you.
 
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