I used to smoke and it was no problem at all while driving. Several times I dropped cigarettes. If it fell on the floor I stamped it out, if it fell on the seat I picked it up.
As I mentioned in the cell phone thread, it is not unheard of for people in Australia to be booked for not being in proper control of the vehicle if caught eating or reading but smoking is considered OK. Presumably the difference is that most of the time the smoker has both hands on the wheel.
On my trip home today I only spotted one phone user - the 18 year-old driving 25 kph under the speed limit in the fast lane. Did wonders for rush hour traffic flow. I didn’t spot any smokers doing that.
Are we talking only “dangerous” as in likely to cause an accident, or also “dangerous” as in the damage it might do in an accident?
Cell phones definitely seem to be a worse distraction for drivers and decrease driver awareness more than cigarettes do. However, a cell phone is not likely to be shoved down your throat or ground into your eye or cheek by an expanding airbag, nor is it likely to set fire to your car.
[angry hijack] That’s why they banned smoking in city parks up here in San Francisco. You know, outdoor second-hand smoke…it’s claiming the lives of thousands. But don’t worry, you can still smoke at the public golf courses. And yes, I’m still bitter. [/angry hijack]
I’d have to say that anything that disctracts the driver is dangerous.
I’m not a great driver–not enough practice to be comfortable, especially since I do not own a car–and I find that even talking is often too much of a distraction. But that’s just me.
I hope they ban smoking in all city parks, everywhere in CA. It may not be all that dangerous, but it is annoying (and yes, they do ban other annoying things like dogs pooping on the grass in most parks). And, by and large, smokers are litterbug pigs who discard their butts everyfuckingwhere. Butts are the #1 item in litter counts, you know.
Boo that. A park is an outdoor public place. Enact and impose a fine for littering butts (or dog shit, for that matter), but smoking outdoors is not a signifigant health risk. Smokers are already ostracized. At least let us walk across the park in peace.
And the pedestrians in the crosswalk are subject to your car exhaust. Life’s tough.
That’s what amuses me most about outdoor smoking bans. People complain about the cigarette smoke, but are apparently immune to the diesel fumes. Whatever. :rolleyes:
I quit smoking cigarettes several times, but the final time was after I nearly drove off the highway while lighting a cigarette. That was more than 30 years ago.
About that time, a friend of mine threw a cigarette out of a convertible just before he got to a shopping mall. When he returned to his car, the fire department had just finished extinguishing his car. His cigarette had blown back into his own back seat, and it destroyed the whole cockpit.
um, con respetto, there are arguably social goods that flow from the diesel use , whereas cigarette smoking produces only detriments both to the smoker and the bystander…
I read somewhere (sorry, get your own cite, its’ frivolous) that smoking was the second most dangerous thing to do while driving, after eating an ice cream cone–both allegedly because of the statistically predictable incidents where the cigarette or icecream ends up on the seat between your legs, with attendant frantic gyrations, etc.
btw, I had a *60 cigarette a day habit–I love nicotine, which is a fabulous drug provided you plan to die before age 50. Up until 1900, this was not a problem…
*I would have smoked more if I had more time, but that was all I could fit in…
I’m in New York state that has a driving while talking on the cell phone law. You are allowed to use a hands free kit. It doesn’t seem to help much. I see people all the time still talking away. In all of the press back and forth when the law was up for debate there was a widely touted study about how cell phones use up part of the brain activity that driving also uses.
I’ve driven a truck and a cab for a living. After spending countless hours on the road I’ve seen dumb driving, careless driving and WTF moments. Putting on makeup, reading a map and talking on cell phones are what I’ve seen as the biggest distractions to drivers.
This I don’t get. Surely if you’re talking on a cellphone with a hands-free kit, surely it’s the same as talking to someone in the passenger street. I have heard that “the person on the other end of the phone can’t react to what’s happening on the road”. Well neither can a blind person. Or an angry girlfriend. Should they be banned too?
Yes, but that wouldn’t be practical. The driver should ask the passenger to be quiet so that he can concentrate on driving safely. If the passenger will not comply, pull off the road and resolve the problem.
