Smoking and Driving

[Shutpa]

Read in my local paper yesterday that Confused.com had issued a statement that drivers who smoke at the wheel can now be issued with a £60 fine and three penalty points on their licences. It further stated that such drivers could have a real problem since insurance companies could refuse to insure them.

Although I know and have read that it is dangerous to smoke while driving, I cannot recall having read anything about this new ruling. Out and about this morning it appeared that there were lots of drivers who were unaware of this new threat to smoking drivers.

 

[bongos]

they'll probably argue that you failed to have full control of the vehicle or something like that. can't see anyone ever getting a ticket for it though.

there was a case a few years ago about a woman who got a £30 fine for eating an apple whilst driving. She went not out to it but got found guilty at court so then complained that the CPS had wasted £10k of taxpayers money on proving the prosecution (which although I agree with her on this if she was that bothered then she could have just payed the £30)

 

[Shutpa]

can't see anyone ever getting a ticket for it though.

there was a case a few years ago about a woman who got a £30 fine for eating an apple whilst driving.

Quote (from local newspaper) - "Yesterday, Confused.com said people could now receive a driving without due care and attention conviction if they were caught smoking while driving......and would find it difficult to renew cover" If this is correct bongos then I think we will be seeing people 'getting tickets' for it!

 

[empip]

Bolo ... How are you quoting? You, again, are missing the opening bracket for quote 'closing' tag [/quote] see it? !!

Should be like this :-

[quote="bongos";p="718097"]some stuff here [/quote]

Which properly gets you this :-

some stuff here

 

[empip]

Pretty much the same as always I would guess some mandatory stuff some advisory.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/index.htm

Many of the rules in the Code are legal requirements, and if you disobey these rules you are committing a criminal offence. ... Such rules are identified by the use of the words 'MUST/MUST NOT' ... the rule includes an abbreviated reference to the legislation which creates the offence.
Explanation of the abbreviations can be found in 'The road user and the law'.

Although failure to comply with the other rules of the Code will not, in itself, cause a person to be prosecuted, The Highway Code may be used in evidence in any court proceedings under the Traffic Acts (see 'The road user and the law') to establish liability...

148
Safe driving and riding needs concentration.
Avoid distractions when driving or riding such as
loud music (this may mask other sounds)
trying to read maps
inserting a cassette or CD or tuning a radio
arguing with your passengers or other road users
eating and drinking
smoking

You MUST NOT smoke in public transport vehicles or in vehicles used for work purposes in certain prescribed circumstances. Separate regulations apply to England, Wales and Scotland.
[Laws TSf(EV) regs 2007, TSfP(W) regs 2007 & TPSCP(S) regs 2006]

They missed out the old oral jobby tho !

 

[megawatt]

I don't see why smoking should be treated any differently to eating, drinking, slapping the child in the passenger seat or using mobile phones ... Its a distraction to safe driving

 

[joe-90]

Smoking is quite dangerous when driving. Years ago when I was in Oz I was wearing shorts when driving and dropped a lit cigarette which went straight up the leg of my shorts. Now that's what I call a distraction.

 

[Steve]

Bolo ... How are you quoting? You, again, are missing the opening bracket for quote 'closing' tag [/quote] see it? !!

empip, I know how this happens. When you want to part quote, and click quote, you have to delete some superfluous stuff that is irrelevant to your quoting. When you highlight the text, if there is a punctuation mark at the end of the quote which you wish to highlight, it will also highlight the [ mark that you speak of. Try it. I end up having to re-type the [. When I quoted you above, if i wished to highlight the two !!s at the end of the quote in order to delete them, it would also highlight the [ of the [/quote]

 

[Shutpa]

Bolo ... How are you quoting? You, again, are missing the opening bracket for quote 'closing' tag [/quote] see it? !!

Should be like this :-

[quote="bongos";p="718097"]some stuff here

Which properly gets you this :-

some stuff here

[/quote]
Thanks empip, I'll get there eventually.

 

[Shutpa]

Careful megawatt and joe90, you're almost in agreement!

 

[Spark123]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/ne...91.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&nol_storyid=7017591&news=1

 

[Rider]

I'm not a smoker now but must have driven many thousands of miles while smoking. No accidents or incidents to report due to that.

 

[Space cat]

148
Safe driving and riding needs concentration.
Avoid distractions when driving or riding such as
loud music (this may mask other sounds)
trying to read maps
inserting a cassette or CD or tuning a radio
arguing with your passengers or other road users
eating and drinking
smoking

This makes the following suggestion from the late Alex Comfort MD:

"-- tie the non-driving partner to their seat and work slowly."

look downright dangerous. That's one I won't be trying in a hurry - from either side of the gear lever!

Edit: I think I remember the apple incident, though I thought it was a doughnut. It happened just after driving with a mobile phone in your hand became a criminal offence. From the moment I heard about it I thought that the police officer had mistaken the apple for a phone, stopped her and then lacked the good grace to accept his mistake. True or false? I guess we'll never know.

A few days later I heard that a newspaper reporter had set a trap. He offered free doughnuts to police drivers as they left the station then snapped the culprit eating one as he drove off.

 

[Shutpa]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/ne...91.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&nol_storyid=7017591&news=1

Cheers spark123, now I really know what the article was all about. How in the name did you manage to track that particular item of news down?

 

[Spark123]

I posted the very same link in this post, it was the flavour of the week at the time
//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=103914