Safe Speed Forums

Hi all,

Something which I have often discussed on a low level with people around me... smoking whilst driving.

Lots of drivers do it. Now surely, you can't be in full control with a cigarette in one hand, driving with the other? Lighting a cigarette must surely require 2 hands.

I'd be interested to see some research put into this.

I'd be very interested to hear your views.

No worse than taking one hand off the wheel to change gears/adjust volume/wind window etc.



No, unless you use matches. Even so, nothing wrong with doing this while you're stationary.

I think that banning smoking whilst driving will cause a massive increase in road rage incidents.

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

Surely changing gear, opening a window, adjusting volume, would each take around a second with the hand off the wheel.

I've see many drivers smoking with only one hand on the wheel. Even if they do manage to hold a cigarette and have that same hand on the wheel, how can they have the same level of grip and control over the wheel?

In addition, attention may be lost in ensuring the cigarette isn't dropped when turning the wheel, if they are indeed holding the cigarette and having that same hand on the wheel.

You are obviously not a smoker.

Where a smoker is concerned, the acts of holding it, taking a draw from it, etc are as natural as breathing and not something you give a second thought to.

It doesn't even take 2 hands to roll a cigarette, so you definately don't need 2 hands to light one either.

With regard to driving one handed, if it works for the disabled then there is no reason to suspect it will work any differently for the able bodied.

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

Agree with that ,Pete, when i smoked and couldn't have one in the van because of a non smoking passenger - noticed little things starting to niggle.

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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 if they drop the thing? Suddenly number one priority is to reach down and pick it up before the car catches fire!

I do wish they would stop throwing them out of the window at me, seeing sparks appear on the road in front of me is quite scary and my natural reaction is to avoid driving anywhere near it. I've almost swerved out of the way a few times. (almost as in I realised in time that it was not a signifficant threat, but it is off-putting enough to take my attention away from other things)

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Andrew.

Including me.

I think smokers are generally quite deft at handling a cigarette. You can swop a cigratte from hand to lips to other hand. You certainly never need to let go of the steering wheel to smoke. You can also grip the wheel perfectly effectively while also holding a cigarette.



It's a mistake to regard 'control' as a matter of grip or hands. It's more about eyes and brain. When you drive you control the situation long before you control the vehicle.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

I see your valid points about reading the situation long before you control the vehicle. However, what if something happens unexpectedly? Do you pass the cigarette from hand to lips and then control the vehicle?

Also, I'm wondering how a smoker would get a cigarette out of a packet? Someone above raised the issue of doing this whilst stationary is acceptable. Yes, I agree. Do all drivers do this whilst stationary?

As with everything else you do whilst driving, you do things at the appropriate times.
I've been smoking and driving for more than three decades without any problems.

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

I can twirl the wheel as much as required while also holding a cigarette. As Gixxer said, it's as natural as breathing.



I hand roll, but never when driving. Occasionally when stationary waiting for lights.

I wouldn't expect getting a cigarette out of a packet to be a serious problem. As I said, it's so much more about eyes and brain.

We have to do lots of things while driving - operate major and minor controls. Control various gadgets. Organise money for tolls. Decide on a route and so on. None of this prevents you from controlling a situation.

And of course lots of drivers have sweets.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

... and a few drivers are just plain hopeless, without the benefit of any other stimmuli!!

I dont smoke, but I do have an ability to control the wheel with one hand. Then again, I have larger hands than a lot of people so it always pays to consider the other persons view.

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

I smoke.
I smoke when driving.
I was smoking when I had an catastrophic failure of the offside steer axle tyre at 56mph, on a part(14ton load) laden artic.
I swerved a bit, not too much, I got the Truck safely to the side of the road and stopped safely, then I had a drag on my cigarette to steady my nerves before I got out to nearly throw up on the grass at the side of the motorway, after I had seen the rather deep ditch I could have driven into.
The cigarette in my hand had absolutely NO effect on my handling the situation.
In fact, the following week, despite a cautionary inspection by the tyre fitter, the nearside steer axle tyre also blew out, the cigarette had NO effect on my handling of that situation either
Only that time, I had a full load of paper reels on end, and that was the worrying part, they aren't the easiest load to secure, and they can easily destabilise a Truck.

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Semper in excreta, nur quantitat variat.

You want to watch out making confessions like that! Next thing there'll be a study from the TRL "proving" that smoking causes blow-outs!

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"Politicians are the same the world over... We build bridges where there aren't any rivers." - Nikita Kruschev

Take one hand off wheel, pick cigarette packet up from centre console, flip packet open, extract cigarette, throw packet back in to centre console, place cigarette between lips.

All of the above can be done in a couple of seconds using one hand, and I have no need to remove my eyes from the road for even a split second.
If you were a smoker, you would realise that smoking is a secondary task and requires no thought input whatsoever.

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

I gave up 4 years ago, but before that I spent about 20 years "smoke-driving".

Smoking whilst driving is as distracting as you choose to make it. If you think about driving, concentrate, observe and plan ahead then you can manage to handle a cigarette with no problem at all. In fact it's probably less distracting than unwrapping and eating a sweet, as the average smoker is exceedingly adept at extracting them from the packet, lighting, controlling and extinguishing them, due to the fact that they practice about 20 times a day (or whatever).

You can easily light a cigarette with one hand (that's why cars are fitted with one-handed lighters) and as others have said you can steer without problem - you can vary the grip on the wheel without varying the pressure of your fingers squeezing against each other.

I can understand that to a non-smoker the whole act seems very cumbersome and awkward, but like anything else it becomes second nature and "automatic" with practice.

The comment about "what if something happens suddenly" is perhaps the critical one here. If you are driving properly things never happen suddenly - if they do then it's not the fag that's the problem but a bit more COAST that is required.

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CSCP Latin for beginners...
Ticketo ergo sum : I scam therefore I am!

Take cigarette out of packet. Put cigarette in mouth. Pick up lighter. Light cigarette. Honestly, to a smoker it is second nature and can be done without once taking your eyes off the road or your right hand off the wheel.

I drive with my left hand on the gearstick most of the time anyway, smoking or not. Ashtray is right in front of the gearstick, so no problem there either.

The "dodgy" times are (in order of descending danger):

1) Sticky lips - you go to pull the cig out of your mouth, but it sticks to your lips and you end up pulling the hot end off the end of the cig, burning your hand in the process. The hot end then lands between your legs, simultaneously burning your car seat AND your trousers. Sometimes, the reflex reaction of your hand being burned causes you to inadvertantly "flick" the hot end, turning it into multiple warheads of molten hot doom, with heat seeking properties that guarantee impact with the most expensive article of clothing that you are wearing at the time. Sticky lips is a mandatory hard shoulder stop.

2) Something unexpected happens that requires an emergency manouver. Both hands grasp the wheel out of instinct and you begin to execute the manouver. Cigarette remains in your mouth. You now have total control over the vehicle. You also have no way of inhaling fresh oxygen.

3) Lighter failure - All those cigs, no way to light them and no services for 40 miles. Elevated stress levels, with all the danger that brings.

4) Cigarette falls in your lap - doesn't happen often, but demands attention when it does. Recovery is usually quite quick, requiring only a momentary glance away from the road, equivalent to 2 speedo checks.

5) Throw lit cigarette out of the window and it blows back in - a dangerous distraction, but this situation can be prevented by stubbing the cig out in the ashtray before attempting window jettison. If in doubt, put it out.


I'm hoping to quit this year....

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“For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.” - H. L. Mencken

I have one question - Why do so many smoking drivers throw the butt out of the window when they have finished when there's a perfectly good ashtray in every vehicle?

I've often wondered that semitone. Only reason I can think of is they're too bone idle to empty the thing. I suppose as litter goes they're fairly minimal impact, but it is a bit annoying when you see a pile of them near a set of lights. And as ziltro says, the sparks on the road can give you one of those momentary 'panics', like when you see a big stone in the road that turns out to be a paper bag. I found a fag butt in my car the other day that must have got stuck to my foot. Grrr!

Two reasons--

1) nothing gets a permanant stink in a car like a used ashtray ( i used to smoke and found this out the hard way)
2)half full ashtray - not all fags go out first time - the filters can start to smoulder and PANIC

Least thats what i've found.

However - before chucking fag out - check behind for

1) Motorbikes - heard stories of ends getting under helmets
2) soft tops with top down - almost as bad

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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

Gixxer,

But have you ever had to retrieve a fag butt from between your legs because its landed there after being tossed out an open window? Its happened to me once, luckily neither time it was burning by the timeit landed.