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Smoking & driving/lighting cigs with car cig lighter

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Just because something is legal, doesn't mean its a good thing.

If you dropped that cig on the floor or something, your concentration will be distracted from the road. After all, driving is about getting from A to B, not about enjoying smoking in your car.

It's about getting from A-B as fast as possible. But you might as well enjoy the ride, this is the reason we aren't all driving one generic ****box of a car.

Reply 21

lackjan

I smoke and drive, I've taught myself to light and drive without taking my eyes off the road, but if I have someone else in the car with me I'll get them to light it for me. I actually love smoking ad driving, I find it so relaxing. I keep a bottle of febreeze on my back seat which I use everytime I smoke in the car, so it doesnt smell at all.

Reply 22

oo00oo

Original post by Raving_Hippy

How is lighting a cig while driving considered dangerous? Also, cars of people who smoke and drive don't HAVE to stink, they can simply use those car air fresheners and it's problem solved.

I never said it was necessarily dangerous... I said that if eating/drinking is considered dangerous while driving (and it is - it's a traffic offence to do so), then lighting and smoking a cigarette is too. I haven't seen the statistics to show that eating/drinking is dangerous, but if they exist, then it would follow logically that similar statistics would result from people smoking whilst driving, because they're doing the same things they'd be doing if they were eating/drinking, not to mention the added danger of dropping a lit cigarette on your lap, which is bound to be a distraction.

And air fresheners don't solve the problem. Maybe you're a smoker, but I can assure you from a non-smoker's perspective that you can't cancel the stale musk of a smokey car by opening the window and buying an airfreshener. It lingers.

Reply 23

oo00oo

Original post by lackjan

Trust me - it does smell. Maybe not to you. But for any non-smoker with a non-debilitated nasal, the smell remains.

And your story is a lovely anecdote, but it doesn't amount to data. I'm fairly sure thousands of people would profess to be experts at driving whilst talking on the phone, and the thought of being distracted to the point of danger by a mobile phone sounds like nonsense to them. But that doesn't diminish the fact that the data suggests that driving whilst talking on the phone leads to a significantly higher risk of a serious accident.

I mean, Lewis Hamilton is very, very good at maintaining full control and awareness while driving extremely dangerously. Yet, just because SOME people are extremely capable of such feats doesn't mean the rest of general driving population is, and for the sake of everybody on the road its better to have a blanket ban than to let it go unchecked on the basis of a few anecdotes.

The same statistics are probably true for eating/drinking, so it follows logically that they'd be the same for smoking.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 24

lackjan

I can understand why being on your mobile is dangerous. Your eyes divert from the road, and you only have one hand on he steering wheel. I dont understand why eating and driving is so bad though. When i finish work and Im in a rush, I'll pop to macdonalds, and I'll have the chips on my lap and can just pick up a couple of chips when its safe to do so, ie, when Im not steering/ changing gear.
Smoking the same. I can still maintain my normal grip on the steering wheel with a cigarette in my fingers. Surely the next dangerious thing to do is holding the gear stick when cruising? And my car does not smell. I have had non smokers in it and asked them and they just say it smells of nothing.

Reply 25

Landie_Man

I myself don't smoke but allow my friends to smoke in my car

Reply 26

Jmzie-Coupe

Original post by LaBelleEtLeBete

If you can focus on the road while lighting, yes (which is why the car lighter is good).
I love smoking in cars, it is actually one of my favourite things to do... Cigarette, music on, feet up on dashboard, sunglasses and a competant driver= bliss.

Feet up on my dashboard and I would most likely cut them off.

Audi.

Reply 27

BLineDisaster

I'd just like to thank all the non-smokers in this thread for their concern of how my car smells, i'll be sure to replace my air freshener when it expires!

Reply 28

Raving_Hippy

Original post by oo00oo

If people wind down the windows while they smoke, as well as use a decent car air freshener, they can help prevent the smell of stale cigarettes tarnishing their car.

I still don't see how smoking while driving is as dangerous as eating while driving. Like one of the other posters said, you can mostly keep both hands on the wheel while holding a lit fag, while only taking one hand off the wheel to take a quick drag of the cig every now and then. So it's not really that dangerous.

Also, as most cars have built in cig lighters, there's very little chance of setting anything on fire as you don't need to strike a match or use a gas cig lighter.