Smoking & Driving

They obviously don't drive their screaming kids around... What next? A new law to ban eating while driving, kids from screaming in your ear "are we there yet?"... :$

Well I heard this on the radio this morning and I have to say I was shocked to hear it was actually legally allowed.

Of course it is bl00dy dangerous anybody can see that

Wonder if it will be as effective as the ban on using mobile phones... I.E not at all...

I quite agree with this in principle, but I think it's difficult to draw a line and say what actually constitutes a real hazard -- changing the radio station? Are they going to ban all radios that can't be operated blind from the steering wheel?

Picking your nose while driving is going to be the next forbidden thing in Germany.

Errrm, isn't listening to the radio or music a distraction too?

Or has some smarty-pants proved that listening to music enhances your ability to concentrate on the road?
If it's loud enough you can ignore any emergency vehicle you choose, especially when also wearing really dark sunglasses and peering through the tinted back window! (which I saw yesterday evening on the A2)

I vote for banning the following while driving: vomiting, filling nappies, spitting dummy and/or 'critically entertaining toys' under drivers seat...and that goes for the kids too!

So you can blow your smoke in everyone's faces at the restaurant, on the train, in the bahnhof, or anywhere else you darn well please, but you can't smoke in the privacy of your own automobile???

I love this country.

How many of us have driven behind a car where the driver is constantly moving their head like at a tennis match because they think they have to look at their passenger to speak with them...ridiculous and dangerous! Wonder if these people use the telephone ...

@ Hellie

that has been the source of a couple of arguments between me and my girlfriend, after I've told her to shut up not too gently as she's been nattering on about this, that and the other as I've been trying to negotiate busy city traffic/fast autobahn travel. Really bugs me.

As for smoking in cars with kids, well if they wern't being gassed every time they got into the car maybe they wouldn't be so hyper 'nuff said.

...well that's me buggered

I personally don't think the actual act of smoking in the car can be dangerous but I suppose the lighting of it can, as you aren't really concentrating fully at that point...also the extinguishing of said cigarette can be dangerous...how many times have people through the butt out of the window and it's come back in or gone to flick ash out the window and the heads fallen off and landed on your seat and burnt your backside...or is that just me :$

I personally don't smoke in the car anymore...mainly because of the kids but also obviously I'm a bit of a hazard with a cigarette butt.

I also don't think it's a bad idea to refrain from smoking in the car, but... this sort of reaction typifies what's wrong with Germany. The answer to every social problem is... 'Create a new law!'. There are already laws about being in control of your car, etc... why the hell can't that cover it? It's barmy... along the lines of the laws regarding hand signs when driving (eg: one finger tapping the head brings a big fine, but tapping 2 fingers against your head in the same manner - to indicate idiocy of the recipient of said finger tapping - is not proscribed...so no fine). Bonkers Germans.

I thought there was already a law here about smoking in a car with kids?

I am a smoker, but I don't smoke in my car. Would hate to have to have something dangling from the mirror :doh: to get rid of the smell, I hate car air fresheners. :excl:

Why do cigerette smokers not consider their dog ends as rubbish? I mean, you wouldn't chuck sweet wrappers or an empty drink bottle out the window, but your dog end? Not a second thought.

Aaarrrggghhh! This is my personal favourite thing to get annoyed about!
It drives me mad when people do it - I consider it to be just as bad as throwing any other rubbish out the window - possibly more so, as it's actually still lit up when it's thrown out!

It's disgusting, makes the area around every traffic light look filthy. How can people do this? As you say - without a second thought! I think it shows an unbelievable level of ignorance (and arrogance).
Interestingly though, if you ask smokers whether they do it themselves, not one will freely admit to throwing their cigarette butts out the window...

Being a smoker and having previously smoked in the car I will freely admit to having thrown my butts out of the car window. I don't smoke in the car anymore, however, having read a report on how many cigarette butts contribute to waste I now carry a portable ashtray if the need arises for me to smoke where there aren't ashtrays.

I've gone all "green" in my old age.

Eating whilst driving is illegal, as is shaving (electric), so why shouldn't setting fire to some rolled up leave stuffed in your face also be considered a hazard and banned.

I completely agree with Mac

Shaving is illegal??? What about putting on lipstick will I get done for that?

Depends if you're shaving at the same time

Well that is me out then

Where will it ever end if this is passed If you were smoking & driving & happened to drop your ciggy in your lap or elsewhere & you caused an accident then you can already be fined for that as you would be operating your vehicle in an unsafe manner. Likewise throwing your cigarette out of the window is littering & also against the law. So will they also be banning drinking while driving? I frequently see people toodling along slurping at their coffee in the morning, even more dangerous if it's McDonalds coffee that gives 3rd degree burns

I am a smoker, but I do not smoke in my car ( I need both hands on the wheel! ) I also don't throw ciggy butts on the ground, I carry empty altoids tins to put them in, like Andrea I used to, but my husband (non smoker) goes absolutely batty if he see's anyone doing this!! :excl:

its just something else they can fine you for.
the police in this country are little more than tax colectors for the state
so stick that in your pipe and smoke it (but not if your driving)

I agree

They will try to fine me for checking my hair in the mirror next

There are lots of things that are done in cars which puts us and others at risk, however large or small. You just have to remember, be safe...protection is the word! erm...you know what I mean... :$

against accidents i mean...oh god...goes off and digs a big hole...

dont you dare check your hair muff NAUGHTY NAUGHTY VERY VERY NAUGHTY
50 BUCKS PLEASE

come on hellie whats the most risky thing youve ever done in a car?

@ mack.
hold on a sek good buddy 10-4 what about cb and scoffin yorkies elbow out the window etc copy copy breaker 1-9

I drive an old but fast english sports car and twice have had cigarette butts land on me when overtaking a slower car driven by a driver too lazy to look in his mirror before tossing them out of the window. On butt just missed my hair.

Yep I use the CB whilst driving (no mature truck driver says breaker), I also pour and drink coffee, grab a bite to eat... but i don't set fire to bits of paper shoved in my face

... and my yorkies don't ever make it as far as the cab, I've munched them by then.

So that's all safer than lighting a small rolled up tube with tobacco in it!! Hope you have a "hands free" CB!!

Ahh but Sue, did you not know that I'm an ex-smoker, I know about the dangers of getting smoke in your eye on the odd occasion when you light up and how it stings, driving with one eye closed trying to stem the tears welling up as you squeeze the eye tighter closed daring to look out of it to see if the sting has gone... never does first time does it

I also have suffered from "burnt hole in jacket on the back seat" syndrone.

Been partially blinded at night whilst lighting up while driving, having to wait a few minutes until my night vision corrects its self.

I had those vices on top of my present ones... at least I have halved the danger that I am on the road since I stopped smoking 14 years ago.

what's back seat syndrone? Is this referring to lighting up after a session on the back seat