rt is asking for rants this week and I was going to post this at her place but once I got started I found it hard to stop and ended up becoming too long, so here it is. Came across this story headline at the BBC site today:
Smoking drivers risk prosecution
A government minister was quoted as saying ““If you’re lighting up with one hand and have a fag in the other hand then obviously you’ve not got any hands on the wheel.”
What planet is this guy from? In all my years I have never seen a smoker hold a cigarette anywhere other than their mouth to light it!
At the moment they have only included the following list as “guide lines”, but who knows what the future will hold.
The even crazier thing is that it is against the law to drive while using a hand held mobile and I see people doing it every day - have never seen a motorcyclist eating a sandwich while on the move.
So here is the new advice included in the revised Highway Code:
Safe driving and riding needs concentration.
Avoid distractions when driving or riding such as
loud music (this may mask other sounds)
trying to read maps
inserting a cassette or CD or tuning a radio
arguing with your passengers or other road users
eating and drinking
smoking
Loud music? - WTF are they smoking ‘cos I need some of it now!
Arguing with your passengers? Well that should “criminalise” around 80% of families driving about with their kids
Map reading? Oh yes, I never plan a journey, always like to decide where I am heading while doing 70 mph and am half way there.
And to cap it all it is not as though our police forces are sitting around all day looking for things to do - as the guy in this post has detailed over the last couple of years.
Rant over, time to relax with "a nice cup of tea" as Arthur Dent would have said/done.
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5 comments:
I used to smoke and drive a stick shift (manual transmission). I didn't cause any accident, nor was I in any. I always had at least one hand on the wheel, as I do now, even as a non-smoker.
Sounds like your side of the pond is as loopy as ours. Good luck! HA! ;P
I noticed that poll when I went by the Daily Mirror earlier asking should smoking while driving be banned. I couldn't believe my eyes - that is so screwed up.
I have no problem with the smoking ban in pubs and restaurants - most offices have not not allowed smoking on the premises for years. You get an interesting mix of people outside from the post room boy to senior executives and all points in between.
What I found there, now applies to pubs etc viz the “camaraderie of the pariahs”, you make conversation with complete strangers and make new friends.
This on the other hand, as you say is loopy/screwed up in a major way!
I've always maintained the belief that to forecast the next socialist absurdity in the U.S., first you look to the U.K and then to Canada. This tactic has rarely failed me and this is but another splendid example.
Lin, you are right on the money.
Government craziness is a highly infectious disease for which there is no vaccine :)
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