Are smokers the only bad drivers?

Nov 9 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

SMOKING, once taken for granted in all sections of society, is fast becoming the number one social taboo. After the smoking ban in public enclosed spaces was introduced in July, further measures have seen its sale being banned to under-18s.

Now, however, Merseyside police want to go one step further and – under the guise of a road safety crackdown – prosecute motorists who light up at the wheel in their own car.

It is not the act of lighting up per se that police are targeting, but that motorists who do so run the risk of driving without due care and attention, or failing to control their vehicle.

It is worth pointing out that officers have always had the powers to prosecute motorists acting in this way, suggesting they have turned a blind eye to it in the past.

But now that open season has been declared on cigarettes and those who smoke them, police feel ready to enforce the existing legislation.

Such a crackdown is bound to provoke some mixed feelings, even on the part of non-smokers.

For one thing, surely what people do in the privacy of their own car is a matter for them, and, provided it does not endanger other road users, should stay that way.

There is also the problem that, while it is easy to spot a motorist talking on a mobile phone while driving, the act of lighting a cigarette – and of it leading to a situation where the motorist is temporarily not in control of the vehicle – is likely to be far harder to observe and to prove.

Perhaps, rather than adding to the persecution complex of smokers, it might have been better if the police had stressed they were simply mounting a campaign against driving without due care and attention – whatever the reason for it.

No-one can doubt that the aim of the campaign is a worthy one – to improve safety on Merseyside’s roads – only that smokers are necessarily the worst or the only offenders.