Smoking while driving

I smoke while driving sometimes. I do try to pull over for a ciggy but sometimes I just can't be arsed.

Always throw the butt out the window cos I dont have an ashtray and I dont want it stinking the car out anyway.
 
Kazzan said:
There is nothing worse than seeing someone changing gear on a roundabout while palming the steering wheel with one hand that's holding a lit cigarette.
I don't smoke, but i can think of a fair few worse things tbh :p

DreXeL you crack me up too :D

merlin said:
Always throw the butt out the window cos I dont have an ashtray and I dont want it stinking the car out anyway.

Oh the irony.
 
It is the natural body motion you have when you have smoked for ages that makes it hard to understand why it does not distract us.

I reach for a lighter without looking, I know where it is, I know where my fags are and the end of the fag - I do not take my eyes off the road. You can hold it in you hand whilst also holding a wheel or gearstick, you can also drop it on the floor and contrary to popular belief, it does not cause a fire. You very rarely drop one anyway, when you smoke 20 a day for 10 years it is like scratching your arse. Smoke does not bother a smokers eyes, I can get smoke in my eyes and it does not make them burn/water/hurt like non smokers feel it does.

It does not really require any mental interaction, it is all second nature, putting it to your lips, sucking, tapping the ash etc are all natural body movements.

It doesn't need to be banned, people who drive badly will do it with or without a cigarette! :D
 
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Smoking while driving actually improves your concentration levels due to the nicotine :p

Seriously, I smoke whilst driving, and I've not found it a distraction whatsoever, in the past I've struggled more to fiddle with radio stations and digital climate control than to smoke whilst on the move.
Smoking (I agree its a filthy habit etc) is autonomous - like a previous poster said, I reach for my cigarettes in my side door pocket and lighter in the centre console without even looking, I only light up when the traffic is clear and my eyes would be off the road for a fraction of a second - less time than it would take to check the speedo/trip computer/change radio stations/reach for sunglasses.
I wouldn't even consider eating while driving.
 
i think it should be banned for 2 reasons:

1 - i hate smoking passionately
2 - no matter how much you say it doesn't - it will distract you. it is unnecessary, if smokers cant live without a cigarette until they finish their journey or are stopped at services then it is a pathetic situation to be in.

daven
 
I think the main danger is what would happen if you dropped your cigarette in your lap? I don't think there is a person here who would say that they wouldn't crap themselves and lose control of the car.

You can say how unlikely it is till the sun goes down but it remains a viable risk, a risk I don't believe is worth taking.
 
daven1986 said:
1 - i hate smoking passionately
At a basic level that is simply prejudice. Of course you're entitled to hate smokers but I don't think thats a valid reason for banning smoking whlst driving.

daven1986 said:
2 - no matter how much you say it doesn't - it will distract you. it is unnecessary, if smokers cant live without a cigarette until they finish their journey or are stopped at services then it is a pathetic situation to be in.
If you have ever changed radio stations, reached for sunglasses or looked for any item in your car whilst driving you are more distracted than a smoker will ever have been.

Gaijin said:
I think the main danger is what would happen if you dropped your cigarette in your lap?...You can say how unlikely it is till the sun goes down but it remains a viable risk, a risk I don't believe is worth taking.

I see your point but of course I disagree, sure it's a risk, but a mighty small one (imo) - never happened to me ever. But then again I've never had a blow out, child run in front of me (severely - that I couldn't avoid), been struck by lightning or won the lottery either.


I'm not defending smokers, I'm stating that imho that smoking whilst driving isn't the child killing sin that some people think it is. Eating/mobile phones/children in the car/and a whole host of other reasons are more distracting.

Edit/ I'm off for a smoke ;)
 
Much as I hate smokers and people throwing butts I think it is probably one of those things that inappropriate smoking/lighting is the problem, ie lighting when driving above the speed limit in a 30 zone whilst going round roundabouts, much as you can expect the average white van driver to do.
Cruising on the motorway leaving a suitable gap infront of you probably makes it fine (unless you chuck it out of the window, hitting the BMW on your bumper :)
 
olv said:
it really annoys me when people think that discarding a cigarette butt out of the window is totally acceptable :confused:

I agree. I don't like littering anyway, and especially not when said litter is a burning tab end that's being flung from a car. Not only is it scruffy and lazy but it's also a potential fire hazard.

DreXeL said:
The butt nearly always just lands in the centre of the road.

Really? I've had my car hit by tab ends numerous times both when following a car, and when passing an oncoming car. Maybe I've just been unlucky?

merlin said:
Always throw the butt out the window cos I dont have an ashtray and I dont want it stinking the car out anyway.

LOL, yeah, because smoking in the car doesn't make it stink anyway. Right?
 
Telescopi said:
Smoking does horrible things to a cars interior - just don't do it.

So does Ripspeed and MaxPower but no-one tells them to stop selling tat do they ??? :D


On a side note, the amount of car drivers that have come close to having their door kicked in as i "ride" past them is astronomical, the amount of cigarette butts that have been flicked into me as i was riding behind a car is ridiculous, much the same as when some filthy little chav spat out of his window and i caught it all over my fairings :mad:
 
Trojan said:
LOL, yeah, because smoking in the car doesn't make it stink anyway. Right?

Like I said - only only very occasionally smoke in the car. When I do it's with the window down.

The smell goes pretty quickly, but if you leave fag ends in an ashtray it'll stink the car out for days.
 
I used to smoke and smoked when I drove.

Never once dropped the cigarette. Also can't say I was ever distracted, it's second nature. I agree with what someone said already - I'd be more distracted changing radio station of putting a new CD in than I would have been smoking.
 
I smoke in my car all the time, I enjoy smoking and seeing as I've never been pulled over for smoking while driving past poilce cars I'll keep doing it till I quit. I've dropped 1 cigarette on my lap before, but that was because it stuck to my lip, all I did was indicate, pull over and pick it up adn carry on driving. Considering I've been driving for 7/8 years now that's pretty good going. The people who say that it's a distraction, it is, just not as much as playing with your stereo, playing your music loud, sneezing or checking out the hot girl in another car.
 
IMO, not smoking and having that craving can be more distracting to a smoker than the actual smoking-whilst-driving itself.

At least that's what my pops said to me when he was justifying his habbit.
 
R0551 said:
checking out the hot girl in another car.

Haha, unfortunately that's so true. I swear if I do crash it's going to be caused by spending just a little too long checking out some girl's legs in my mirrors, not because of smoking in the car. :D
 
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