Safe Speed Forums

Whilst I personally don't like smoking I fail to see any evidence to suggest that smoking and driving have caused significant incidents to start a campaign against it and as for a Law against it that seems exceptionally over the top.
Ideally I would like to see no one do anything other than drive / ride when they drive or ride, but my personal opinion of this, is not sufficient to make any valid road safety decision.
Where are the stats to prove this is a valid and necessary step to road safety !?
Without unbiased research how can they prove it either way?
Where are their figures to show that using a mobile phone while driving is 'dangerous' as a nationwide issue ?
They have done next to no research into phone use and people's attention abilities. These type of sweeping rules and regs do nothing to help teach people good driving and riding practices.
If people can be shown certain activities are not good, then gradually people tend not to do things they perceive to be dangerous or bad. Now I see many people on phones while driving but they appear to be well positioned and driving safely. Now the problem can obviously happen when conditions change then the attention problems can surface, & rapidly.
Can this be similar for those that smoke ? I would generally tend to disagree, (only) from what I have observed, most who smoke tend to do so with their hand nearest the window and so 'mostly' controlling the steering wheel, and when conditions change their hand remains on the wheel and they apply appropriate actions / reactions. Does smoking prevent road attention 'enough' to lay down a Law as opposed to first providing educating road users ? When good drivers look or glance away from the road they do so when conditions are good and safe.
This is not to say this is 'best practice' but is it bad enough to warrant this severe Law alteration and further road user 'persecution' with fines? I don't think so.
(I will add that I cannot say that I like smoke and feel sorry for those that are addicted. Paul tried to stop and planned to have Jan 1st as his stop date, even he thought he could stop until he really tried, and then he realised just how 'addicted' he truly was. I do think it seriously contributed to his death. That is tragic but he chose to smoke although he always had windows open to help retain fresh air.)

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

I do think that think that modern politicians would like to adopt the Sergeant Major approach to jurisprudence - "Any thing that is not expressly permitted, laddy, is forbidden"

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Well. There was a program on the tv (police stop thing) where an investigation after a fatal accident (young woman) where the investigation uncovered the fact (admitted eventually by the driver) that he had been playing with a dash-mounted mobile and had not noticed that the traffic in front had stopped...he was driving a truck.....the car immediately in front of him (containing the young woman) was half its supposed length after the accident. She was dead.
Then there was another where the driver was using a laptop....also banned under the same law as mobiles...a family of 6 killed.
And there is research to back it up...
As for smoking...I care little of smokers decide to smoke...but as for passive smoking....perhaps people ought to consider the other diseases and problems that are caused/exacerbated by smoking before jumping onto the "nothing proved" bandwagon.
Passive smoke causes me major problems....I have copd and asthma....
Anything that means drivers keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the steering wheel has got to be a benefit.

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

I don't like smoking so that I want it should be banned in cars.
I appreciate this.

Thanks
Joe

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traffic ultimatum review

I don't like farting so I think it should be banned in cars

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

As has already been said before: If you use a company vehicle and that vehicle, in the course of business, is used by or has as a passenger another person, then smoking in that vehicle is banned. That includes trucks and vans. Smoking in public transport has been banned for years anyway, and that includes the driver smoking.
So...little-by-little.....

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

I thought they could still get you even if you were the "sole" user of a "Company" vehicle. (I am sure I remember reading some "Daily Mail" type story about some self-employed Plumber/electrician/etc getting done for smoking and driving in his own Van!)

(Not that it apples to me as a non-smoker. Buuuut, first they came for.....!)

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

I haven't posted for a while, but this one got me going. Whilst at it, why not ban passengers, as they talk and this must be distracting to the driver. Also ban satnavs, as while you are looking at the satnav you aren't paying full attention to the road ahead. Didn't somebody get done once for eating a Mars bar?

Better still why not get rid of this control mad and corrupt government so that money can be spent on more useful things.

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Brian

And ban manual gearboxes because you have to remove you one hand from the steering wheel to change gear.

Incidentally, teabelly, the proposal is to ban smoking in car not to ban smoking whilst driving - which I agree can be dangerous. The idea is to protect children and it is regarded as impractical to enforce a law which only bans smoking when children are in the car. But it is worth bearing in mind that the children of smokers are subject to passive smoking all their time at home so that protecting them for the short periods of time that they are in the family car is going to be ineffective in overall health terms.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

If smoking is allowed while you drive then I should be able to have a pint sitting ready in the cup holder while interfering with my willie.

Well, if that's my drug or pleasure why shouldn't I be able to?

Also.. You can't easily see if there is a child in a car because they are children i.e, little people. I can't see if there's one in a Range Rover when I'm in my Polo. Are these drivers going to be pulled over just to check if they have a child?

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Common Law states that everything is permissible unless there is a law banning it. It also includes things like murder, GBH, fraud, etc.

Napoleonic Law states that everything is forbidden unless there is a law permitting it.

Guess which law is most common throughout the EU?

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Prepare to be Judged

I always get worried about blokes wearing baseball caps backwards -so perhaps that too should be banned in cars - ( Don't really - just give this type a large berth ,but it's another prejudice surfacing) . What next -some law saying I can't cuddle my wife in public ( especially on escalators ,as she suffers from vertigo and it's the only way she can get up/down without resort to a lift ).

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

ISA check definitely required. You are verging on being a pervert.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Getting very worried there - got a little terrier that has a fascination for little blonde girls about six -because my granddaughter is like that - and black prams cum car seats -because my daughter carries grandson in one - he wander up to them tail wagging to find it's not his kids -nect thing I'll have to get CRB checked ( and him ) in case we're a danger -that's the danger of this lot .Today he found some lads ( about eight) playing footy in park - ran up to them tail going daft , turning somersaults of delight - now waiting for pervert police to kick my door down .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

What was the situation in the Roy Castle case then? I don't know the true answer, I'm merely wondering about it.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

Coo, if farting becomes an Olympic event, the selectors would be on the phone to me PDQ.

Best wishes all,
Advanced Farter.

Good point Dave! I always remember it being attributed to his trumpet playing in the smoke-filled clubs, (rightly or wrongly).

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

To the best of my knowledge, the only 'evidence' in Roy Castle's case was his own belief that this was the cause, nothing more.

A study of non-smoking bar staff, pre ban, that is something empirical we could really do with seeing.

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Regulation without education merely creates more criminals.

For myself, I’ve always thought the genetic hand you have been dealt plays a far bigger part in your predisposition to ailments or disease. I have never thought passive smoking was going to give me cancer or heart disease; I just can’t abide the smell. There's something about cigarettes in particular. Some pipe tobaccos smell quite okay.

Moderate alcohol consumption is actually beneficial to your health, as life insurance companies know, yet it is a poison. (They prefer moderate drinkers to tea-total). There are hundreds of carcinogens in coffee yet we guzzle that stuff by the skip load.

So I think it’s all too easy to get paranoid about these things, just like the speed kills notion. If that is such a truism I should have killed or been killed long ago, along with millions of others.

When they introduced the smoking ban in pubs I was actually against it because I knew it would send smokers outside where I like to stop for a pint after a cycle ride. Pubs have a bar and a lounge so why not use the bar as a smoking room with adequate extraction and a ‘no smoking at the bar’ policy? But oh no, we need to be saved from ourselves. Think of the children!

But I digress…

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.