This I can well imagine

**merv** · 27th May 2004, 08:28

Reported on the Stuff website today:

Cigarettes leading cause of driver distraction
27 May 2004

Forget cellphones, applying lipstick or drinking coffee at the wheel - smoking is the leading driver distraction causing car accidents, says an anti-smoking lobby group.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) director Trish Fraser said people should stop smoking in their cars.

"Smoking in your car poses a hazard to not only yourself, but also your passengers and other people on the road. If you must, have a cigarette before you get into your car, but don't smoke and drive," she said in a statement.

According to ASH, last year 226 drivers were handling cigarettes when they had an accident, compared with 51 drivers who were using mobile phones.

Smoking in cars was not only distracting, but harmful to health, Ms Fraser said.

"Second hand smoke is a toxic substance and is capable of causing numerous illnesses and even death and this threat is increased in the confines of a car."

But the Land Transport Safety Authority (LTSA) has stopped short of backing a ban on smoking in cars .

LTSA spokesman Andrew Knackstedt said it should be kept to a minimum: "As with anything, eating, drinking or whatever - you are there to drive and your concentration should be on the road."

Smokefree cars and homes is the theme of next Monday's World Smokefree Day, Ms Fraser said.

The campaign would push home the message that smoking inside also threatened the health of children and pets.

ASH says second-hand smoke is the leading environmental cause of preventable death in New Zealand, killing around 350 people annually.

Non-smokers who lived with smokers had a 15 per cent higher mortality rate than those in a smokefree household.

**Jackrat** · 27th May 2004, 10:21

Ha I can roll a smoke,eat a pie,change a C/W cd,and read a road map,all at the same time while driving my patrol at 120km around a 50km corner,No worrys mate.They must be talking about some one else huh!

**pete376403** · 27th May 2004, 10:23

Barry Sheene had a hole in the front of his helmet so he could have a smoke while waiting for the start of a race.
Was fatal in his case, too.

**James Deuce** · 27th May 2004, 10:28

I reckon eating in a car is worse, but then I don't smoke so I can't compare.

**MikeL** · 27th May 2004, 11:16

Originally Posted by merv

Reported on the Stuff website today:

According to ASH, last year 226 drivers were handling cigarettes when they had an accident, compared with 51 drivers who were using mobile phones.

Another abuse of statistics. Where do the figures come from? Are all accidents reported? Are drivers' statements about what they were doing at the time always independently verified? Was it proven that in all 226 accidents the cigarette was a cause or contributing factor?

Very sloppy.

Slightly

When I was young family car trips were always accompanied by air pollution, my parents both being heavy smokers. It didn't occur to us kids to complain, except when the ash flicked out the window invariably ending up in our faces.
Now, although I am generally tolerant of others' smoking, I do get annoyed when I see parents smoking in a car full of children. They can't claim ignorance, and so it comes down to a fairly selfish disregard for their kids' health.

**danb** · 27th May 2004, 11:27

Originally Posted by pete376403

Barry Sheene had a hole in the front of his helmet so he could have a smoke while waiting for the start of a race.
Was fatal in his case, too.

MMM yes it would be a little on the hard side to have a fag while riding with helmet and all on and yes a distraction as well. No I dont smoke so I aint got to worry

**danb** · 27th May 2004, 11:34

Originally Posted by MikeL

I do get annoyed when I see parents smoking in a car full of children. They can't claim ignorance, and so it comes down to a fairly selfish disregard for their kids' health.

My mums father used to smoke with everyone else in the car with the kids in the back until he had to stop because of cancer and died

Yes I think its totally wrong and very bad, Although I don’t like speaking of the bad when people are dead its something that at least there should be a law to stop it. Even if it is to just ban smoking with passengers in the car (Including the passengers them selves) as it’s a very small confined space.

**Motu** · 27th May 2004, 12:09

Going down the motorway on sunday with Erik behind me we passed a guy with a newspaper spread across the steering wheel.It might of been ok - if he was a queer he would be better at multi tasking than a straight guy...life gets complicated don't it.

**pete376403** · 27th May 2004, 12:12

Both my parents used to smoke in the car (imagine a rainy day, so windows up and heater on, two people smoking, grinding over the rimutakas in a Humber 10 - instant car sick)
My wife and I, OTOH, have never smoked (I did briefly at 17 but that shouldn't count) and bought four kids up in a nice clean heathly smoke free environment. Now, three of them are smokers. Go figure.

**scroter** · 27th May 2004, 13:33

Can you really blame smoking for crashing. id ont think so, its like saying speeding causes accidents. also false the person behind the wheel/handlebars is at fault its hardly the ciggarettes or the speedos fault.

**danb** · 27th May 2004, 14:29

Originally Posted by Motu

Going down the motorway on sunday with Erik behind me we passed a guy with a newspaper spread across the steering wheel.It might of been ok - if he was a queer he would be better at multi tasking than a straight guy...life gets complicated don't it.

Sound like the case of the Intel Celeron CPU(non Multi Tasking) and the Intel P4 CPU (Multi Tasking) and no I not going to start up an argument on how shit AMD is..... (i.e I wont reply

)

**Kickaha** · 27th May 2004, 18:26

My friend Nigel managed to write his Mk1 Escort off going through the Hundalees after dropping a lighted smoke down the leg of his shorts,he found that a bit of a distraction!

**merv** · 27th May 2004, 18:50

The other classic to see on the roads is parents trying to sort their kids out while driving along and the kids are in the back seat. Basically any real distraction isn't good news.