The Smoking Ban

[Reverend Gooner]

we should be in charge things would be a lot smother

try smoother you just lost my vote

Who says the goonersworld regime would be a democracy

[UFGN]

Can I be Secretary Of State for Peace, Love and Ice Cream?

and Secretary Of State for Clive Owen.

Cheers.

[Leody]

How many times in recent history have you heard of a car being set alight by cigarettes?

It's not really that. People blow out the smoke in front of them with the window open, then the wind blows the smoke back into their eyes, they are blinded and next thing you know the car is triple somersaulting down the road It is dangerous stuff

so shouldnt smoking with the window down be illegal but window up be fine

Sounds like a fair compromise

As a person who smokes in the car...

1) smoke blows out the window, not back into your eyes. Only when you're stopped does it ever come back into your face. When moving it goes into the back of the cabin, not the driver's face.

2) you can drive with a cig in your hand and both on the wheel very easy. It only takes two fingers to hold a cig. And when you want to take a puff your 2nd hand is only off the wheel as long as it takes to adjust the volume on the radio.

Do you want to outlaw adjusting the volume on the radio too???

Where are you going to draw the line?

Before long people are going to want to outlaw driving because people are distracted by pretty ladies walking down the sidewalk or airplanes flying overhead or crying babies in the back seat or shiny objects on the side of the road.

How about we just pass laws that make punishments for causing accidents more strict? Those are laws that can be enforced and will allow people that are capable of multitasking have the freedom to continue to do so and those who can't will be punished. Stop criminalizing behavior that some people can't handle and many people can.

Society has a bad problem with over reacting to freak accidents. For example they want to redesign the shape of the hotdog over here in the US because 17 infants choked on them last year. Of the millions of people that eat hotdogs maybe 0.0001% of them choked on them last year. It was an unfortunate accident, but I have a feeling just as many would have choked if they were square. Bad shit is going to happen no matter how many laws you pass, people are going to die, people are going to get hurt, people are going to lose their jobs... it doesn't matter how many laws you pass... just let people have their freedom and deal with the problems when they happen.

Next we're going to want to outlaw lightning...

[CynicalGooner]

People shouldn't smoke with their kids in the car anyway, but banning it in general.... really?

Soon we won't be allowed to fart in our own homes

[Leody]

I'm all for banning farting, I don't want your poop particles in my nose... that's just gross...

[Gooner Girl]

How many times in recent history have you heard of a car being set alight by cigarettes?

It's not really that. People blow out the smoke in front of them with the window open, then the wind blows the smoke back into their eyes, they are blinded and next thing you know the car is triple somersaulting down the road It is dangerous stuff

I didn't say a cigarette would CAUSE a car to be set alight on its own but if you have a lit cigarette in your hand and have a bad car accident which manages to get petrol everywhere then surely something that is burning (such as a fag) in the vicinity is something of a fire hazard?

[Fordy]

thats like saying you shouldn't get on a plane in your shorts because if it crash's your going to be cold

[UFGN]

How many times in recent history have you heard of a car being set alight by cigarettes?

It's not really that. People blow out the smoke in front of them with the window open, then the wind blows the smoke back into their eyes, they are blinded and next thing you know the car is triple somersaulting down the road It is dangerous stuff

I didn't say a cigarette would CAUSE a car to be set alight on its own but if you have a lit cigarette in your hand and have a bad car accident which manages to get petrol everywhere then surely something that is burning (such as a fag) in the vicinity is something of a fire hazard?

Funny you should say that, I once had to deal with a situation near my house (seriously) where a bloke had been hit side on by another car and his car was a mess. He was trapped cos the door was jammed and he had a back injury....and I had to say, look mate im going to take your cigarette out of your hand cos its not safe.... never thought that story would be relevent to a topic on G/W The fire bregade cut his car to bits to get him out but he didnt look too bad.

[Gooner Girl]

well there you go - UFGN saved his life by taking his fag away. Point proven and what a hero!

[UFGN]

well there you go - UFGN saved his life by taking his fag away. Point proven and what a hero!

He could see one of his wheels in the road about 15 metres away and he said "is that my wheel"? I said to him "You dont want to be worrying about that wheel mate, thats the best bit of the car now!" Made him laugh anyway, he was surprisingly calm about the whole thing

[SE13]

Hmmmmmm..... You have to take one hand off the wheel to change gear. Should we outlaw that as well?

There is a line that has to be drawn somewhere.

I'm all for outlawing the use of mobiles because not only does it leave you only one hand, your concentration is on the conversation/text, and not what's going on ahead of you. Multi-tasking or not, one of the two will have your priority.

Cigarettes less so, because you can still have two hands on the wheel, and concentrate on the driving.

But I agree that smoking in a car is quite horrible, I've done it myself.

Both me and Mrs SE13 are smokers, but we never smoke in the house, it's always outside, and that's more for the sake of the children than any other reason. However, my parents are non smokers, and often if it's been raining, and the cigarette has been lit before exiting the door, and they come round at some point during the day they will ask if we have been smoking in the house.

Children need protecting from second hand smoke, and cars is one place to do it. It's too confined.

[Leody]

Still can't outlaw smoking in the car...

How is that logical for people like me who are alone in the car 95% of the time? I guess at least I'd be protected from my own 2nd hand smoke.

[Reverend Gooner]

How many times in recent history have you heard of a car being set alight by cigarettes?

It's not really that. People blow out the smoke in front of them with the window open, then the wind blows the smoke back into their eyes, they are blinded and next thing you know the car is triple somersaulting down the road It is dangerous stuff

so shouldnt smoking with the window down be illegal but window up be fine

Sounds like a fair compromise

As a person who smokes in the car...

1) smoke blows out the window, not back into your eyes. Only when you're stopped does it ever come back into your face. When moving it goes into the back of the cabin, not the driver's face.

2) you can drive with a cig in your hand and both on the wheel very easy. It only takes two fingers to hold a cig. And when you want to take a puff your 2nd hand is only off the wheel as long as it takes to adjust the volume on the radio.

Do you want to outlaw adjusting the volume on the radio too???

Where are you going to draw the line?

Before long people are going to want to outlaw driving because people are distracted by pretty ladies walking down the sidewalk or airplanes flying overhead or crying babies in the back seat or shiny objects on the side of the road.

How about we just pass laws that make punishments for causing accidents more strict? Those are laws that can be enforced and will allow people that are capable of multitasking have the freedom to continue to do so and those who can't will be punished. Stop criminalizing behavior that some people can't handle and many people can.

Society has a bad problem with over reacting to freak accidents. For example they want to redesign the shape of the hotdog over here in the US because 17 infants choked on them last year. Of the millions of people that eat hotdogs maybe 0.0001% of them choked on them last year. It was an unfortunate accident, but I have a feeling just as many would have choked if they were square. Bad shit is going to happen no matter how many laws you pass, people are going to die, people are going to get hurt, people are going to lose their jobs... it doesn't matter how many laws you pass... just let people have their freedom and deal with the problems when they happen.

Next we're going to want to outlaw lightning...

In case you were not sure I was completely joking in previous posts. I think banning smoking in cars would be a completely unnecessary and ridiculous law. I agree with your other analogies.


Goonergirl: Mythbusters have already busted the theory that a cigarette on petrol lights it. In the tests they tried a couple of thousand times with different brand cigarettes and it never lit the petrol, the petrol put it out. Just google it, it is a well busted myth. Just like if you drop your car off a cliff, it doesn't matter how high, the chances of it exploding on impact are slim.

[Leody]

No worries Rev.

I just get fed up with well this may in some cases cause bad things to happen... so... MAKE IT ILLEGAL!

Bad things will always happen. No matter what we do. The best we can do is to be prepared to deal with them when they do happen. Focus on that.

You want to cut down on accidents from careless and inattentive drivers? Make a law that if during the course of your life you cause 2 or 3 accidents, no matter the reason... you lose your driving privileges for life. That will fix the problem. People that want to drive and do other things will always have the risk of losing their driving privileges in the back of their mind. Once they cause an accident because they were texting or talking on the phone or whatever they will start paying attention to driving. Because they'll know if they do it two more times they're done. Those who are able to do those things without being a risk to public safety and don't cause accidents will not lose their freedom to do-so. The issue isn't people texting or doing whatever while driving, the issue is they're not paying attention to driving. You take away the ability to text from an inattentive driver and they will just find something else to do rather than pay attention to driving. You need to get these people to focus on driving, not remove 1 of many distractions.

Fix the problem, not the symptom of the problem...

[Fordy]

if you think about it driving is dangerous full stop lets make it illegal

and while we are on the subject electricity is quite dangerous lets ban that and its quite possible to choke on food so im not so sure we should be allowed to eat.