Rant Car smoking ban

Jeez, I can't believe that this debate is still going on.

OK: why are people made, by law, to wear seatbelts in their car?

How is that different from making people, by law, not smoke in their car?

 

As it only targets the people who actually smoke where as the seat belt law targets everyone who drives.

Its all very well and good dictating to someone they have to do something when it doesnt affect you in the slightest.

Just my opinion and like A-holes ...everyone has one.

 

Seatbelts are an essential safety feature; it's perfectly reasonable for them to be mandatory. The fact that you allude to smoking in a car being just as dangerous is ludicrous, because it's not really even comparable. Sure, you can use the quite frankly outlandish argument that we may drop it, but funnily enough you don't lose all ability to hold objects when you start smoking.

You find me some statistics about how many crashes are a direct result of someone smoking, I bet you it's not a lot. I also bet you that at least 50% of them are caused by people who would have gone on to have similar accidents from things like fiddling with the radio. Smoking doesn't cause accidents by distracting people; people who aren't going to pay enough attention anyway cause these accidents. The fact that some of them happen to be smokers is incidental.

 

Agreed its a pretty pointless thread and a even more stupid law if it ever gets passed I think I'll take up smoking just to say up yours to the law lol

 

Well I hope your week is getting better. We all have very bad days, mine can be found in a different thread

I think only the very irresponsible and very selfish would not agree that not smoking when pregnant or with children around is the right way to go but banning smoking in cars won't achieve that. Those who are irresponsible in that way won't change unless they have cause to stop their smoking altogether.

The real way to tackle it is education early on to instill in the young that when they grow up not only is it best not to smoke but that they should be protecting the and their young by not indulging in that particular vice around them.

 

Because it's not about safely operating your motor vehicle, it's about second hand smoke in the confined space of a car. At least according the original article.

That makes sense at a glance, but it's flawed logic. A hypothetical no smoking in cars law would effect everyone, all drivers are equally not allowed to smoke while driving. Anyone who currently doesn't smoke is equally not allowed to take up smoking while driving.

The seatbelts are the same way. When seatbelt laws were added weren't they "targeted" at those who didn't wear their belt at the time? But in reality it's for all drivers as you say.

 

Edit: Oops - sorry misread your post lol - that's what comes of starting Xmas early ffs

 

How are they going to police this ban (if it were to go ahead) when the police, at-least in my area cannot even stop people using their phones whilst driving!

 

Hmm, a proposal for a silly law that will start arguments and discussions all over the country. Sounds like a distraction to me. "Citizens, please forget about the tanking economy for a moment."

My personal view is that tobacco is the Internet Explorer 6 of smoking. It was okay at the time, but now it's a legacy tech that is more trouble than it's worth. The "should I smoke or not?" debate hasn't changed in fifty years.

Non-smoker: "Smoking is stupid, you'll die of cancer or heart disease or emphysemia."
Smoker: "But smoking is awesome."

I fall into the much underrepresented modern third category.

E-cigarette smoker: "Smoking is awesome and it isn't going to kill me. Also e-cigs have LEDs."

 

To allow the state to raise revenue in fines, If it was on safty grounds 3 point would be banned as they cause more injuries than they prevent (whilst saving lives) and 4 point would be mandatory, Personally I won't and don't use a 3 point seatbelt.

imo the states interference in an adults choice of legal risk should be restricted to providing accurate information only, I am quite capable of deciding if I wish to wear a seatbelt\crashhat or smoke.

 

Indeed.

Apply that logic and you'd have to go around arresting people who look sleepy:

from clicky. You can find the RoSPA pdf if you fancy searching.

So, that's 9000 serious injuries or deaths caused by fatigue, a far more serious concern (numbers wise) I'm sure you'd agree.

Edit: I agree you shouldn't smoke in a car with children but that's called being a 'good parent', just like you wouldn't put beer in their drinking mug.

 

Basically, all I see in this thread is a whole bunch of very good, very coherent arguments against the proposed law and not a single consistent, coherent argument in favour of it.

Nexxo, you usually lampoon topics with lengthy paragraphs of well-formed argument, conclusively demonstrating a point: that you haven't done this in this case reinforces my suspicion that there isn't a coherent, consistent argument to be made in favour of banning smoking in cars.

There are reasons for the proposed ban, but they all go against other established precedents:

-smoking in enclosed spaces is harmful, but then why not ban it in homes too?
-cigarettes combined with clothing are a fire hazard, but then why not ban them entirely?
-smoking while driving does distract you, but then why allow food, drink, hands-free kits or sat-navs?
-disposing of cigarettes out of your car window is dangerous, but is already covered by the same legislation that makes it a crime to throw anything out of your car window; why make two laws to cover the same crime?

I don't see any useful criticism of these contradictions from the people in favour of the ban. They (Nexxo included, which is kind of out-of-character) seem to be evading the meat of the issue.

 

Im late to this one but i don't think people should smoke in cars. Should it be a legal thing? I'm not sure. Common sense tells you smoking is dangerous, driving a vehicle is dangerous so doing both is more dangerous.
From my point of view i want to know if this is being proposed from a road safety angle or a health angle. I guess health.
The thing that bugs me is when parents put the kids in the car then light up. The kids can't stop their parents smoking in the car and I think that it is incredibly unfair on the kids in such a confined space.
If the parents were responsible they wouldn't do that in the first place. But to be honest there are so many problems with the country and society as a whole that they should deal with some ofew the bigger things first.

 

Agreed Its about time this thread was closed its all been said already.

 

Because it's too cold in the UK to go naked all year round, silly

 

I agree that it's unfair to ban smoking, but perhaps it's just another stepping stone towards banning any sort of activity whilst driving?

ninjaedit: For a second there I thought Krikkit lost his admin rights

 

Apart from that, So should smoking and being naked be banned in the winter ?

 

UK Nanny State at it's best!

 

if its banned it wont make any difference anyway just like banning mobile phones hasn't made any difference I still see loads of idiots swerving, not looking where they are going or travelling irratically when on the phone.