Originally posted by Freeborn

RogerT.
Yes I would like to quit smoking.
But I don't believe in prohibiting anything let alone something that has been legal for years now.
Whatever happened to freedom of choice?

My post was partially tongue in cheek ... however, in my experience, nicotine doesn't offer freedom of choice, that's why so many are addicted to cigarettes and can't quit, no matter how much they want to or how hard they try.

Interesting you mention that you are uneasy when driving without a cigarette. You want the free choice to smoke, but do you currently have the free choice to not smoke?

If smoking, eating, or drinking while you're driving causes you to crash, then you probably shouldn't be allowed to have a driving license in the first place.

Originally posted by IAF101
You guys cant smoke, cant drink where you want, cant drive what you want. Cant own guns, cant walk without being videotaped. Damn you suck!

Umm, yes we can. People who smoke can, just not in buildings, which is a good thing. Would you like me to come to a place your eating, or working, and blow noxious fumes all over you?

We can drive wherever the hell we please as well, as long as it's not private land or inside a shopping centre.

True, we can barely move without being videotaped, but 90% of the cameras are owned by private businesses, not the government. My fried worked at a CCTV station for work experience and he could barely see anything, very few of these cameras are monitored.

And why would we want, or need, guns? A gun has one use, to kill someone, which theres no point in doing in the first place.

Originally posted by deadline527

I agree with smokers are the new lepers, why cant people just mind their own business? And people do MUCH more distracting things such as make-up, shave, talk on the phone, etc.. so I don't see why the focus on smoking other then to go along with the whole anti-smoking fad.

Smoking IS the same as putting on make up and shaving and numerous other things ~ it's called driving without due care and attention, which is mostly bad and occasionally comical also very occasionally deadly.

Using your mobile phone on the other hand seems to of been elevated in status by the authority's and I think it is now a separate offence, may be wrong but they are well hot on that issue. I could see smoking going that way, but as for now it is the same as it has always been, do it safely because remember you are also operating a machine that can kill (and is also specifically designed to take most of the effort out of operating it!)

Just like to add I never shave / apply make up / smoke / take calls / eat / drink and loads of other things WHEN I'M RIDING A MOTORBIKE! it's a pain in the arse.

Just goes to show the US is not alone in it's march towards authoritarianism.

And it's not being forced on us - as we can see here in this thread, there are plenty of people who favor this kind of tight social monitoring and control.

Expect it to get much, much worse before it gets better.

Originally posted by Freeborn

Do you smoke?
If not, how do you know?

I passed my driving test a few days after my 17th birthday, I am now 42.
I regularly drive long distances and have driven countless miles over the years.
I have never had an accident, (habitually touches head).
I am a smoker.
I have been most ill at ease and felt unsafe when not smoking whilst driving due to consideration for my passengers.

I suspect reading a route planner is much more dangerous.

Very poor argument, people can drink drive for 20 years and not have an accident and it does not mean it should be allowed.

We are not allowed to put make up on while driving, not allowed to use a phone, not allowed to read and we shouldnt be allowed to smoke, all of them increase chances of an accident.

It's already banned in company vehicles so it's only one small step away from a total ban
I bought MY car with MY hard earned money if the government want to tell me what I can and can't do in it they can reimburse me .

It is my car , If i wish to smoke in my car then i will.

Moby phones, shaving , make up , arguing , nodders (BJ's while driving), are 100% more dangerous , maybe we should all drive namby pamby automatics here! because you have to take your hand off the wheel to change gear!

bureacratic balderdash really do gooders gone mad !!!

[edit on 5-10-2007 by completenuttergit]

People people!!

Smoking whilst driving has not changed status yet!!

Consider the source, alarmist bull S$%.

Having an accident due to smoking is the same as having an accident whilst having an argument with your girlfriend ~ driving without due care.

Driving without due care is dangerous, driving when ill is dangerous, driving when tired is dangerous, driving when angry is dangerous, driving when drunk / stoned is dangerous, driving when ....... proving all that is a different story.

This smoking advice is actually being added to the revised Highway Code. I do think tho that , that will all it will be , advice. I cant see the authorities being able to enforce this and to be quite honest i think most coppers would not bother as its more paperwork than the amount they have to do already...

I had a pupil once who asked me to teach him how to light a cigarette whilst driving, i said no of course but, i did advise caution and to take his time and if poss use the car fag lighter ... But as i said NO ONE will stop me having a smoke in my own space . Its mine leave me alone !
Regards

Git

Edit for poo spelling cos i dropped ash on my keyboard!! oh no my pc is now out of control !!

[edit on 5-10-2007 by completenuttergit]

I guess from now on there should be total silence in all vehicles......if you need a drink, pull over take a gulp and then start driving again. This seems simply enough......


If the US govt ever tried this, they better be prepared to provide me with a car, pay for the gas, the insurance and registration. until then it is my property.

Originally posted by Flyer
Good, driving while smoking is no different to driving while on the phone.

Both should be the same offence that carries the same fine.

Sorry but you are absolutely totally wrong about this.

In the fire academy they taught us why using the cell phone is four times worst than drunk driving. It is not the handling of the object that makes it dangerous it is speaking to a disembodied voice. It causes the reptilian portion of the brain to take over and no amount of concentration can stop it from happening. What happens is that your self survival instincts over-ride you brain because we have evolved to communicate with seeing the other persons facial expressions, when we talk on the phone the survival instinct goes into overdrive and creates the worst distraction a person can experience, because nearly all of our concentration goes into trying to figure out if this person you cannot see is going to attack you. Your conscience mind has no idea this is happening while the sub conscience mind takes over.

It doesn't matter if its hands free calling or not, its just the way our minds work. The two cannot be compared, cell phone use while driving is the worst thing you can do. Four times worst than driving while intoxicated.

Originally posted by LoneGunMan

Sorry but you are absolutely totally wrong about this.

Look at the study, Im not making it up.

This is some BS law sanctioned before Ubermeister Gordon took the helm. Im a smoker and will continue to be - my money funds the NHS after all. I live in London and see cops using their motorola radios all the time whilst driving - but i cant use my phone ? I even have 3rd party evidence through a "speed cops " video in my posession - now i cant smoke !?!

This is another stealth tactic - i cant eat on the road ? I cant smoke ? - im a sales guy who does 30k a year on the highways here - bs

I pay 40% taxes and god knows what on fuel and road - fine pull me over ill get off the road and lets see what I and 40% of the british economy does in response