25th June 2007

Support grows for a ban on smoking at the wheel

With the smoking ban in enclosed public places and workplaces in England coming into force this weekend (July 1st), the Local Authority Road Safety Officers' Association (LARSOA) is encouraged by recent polls supporting the idea of a ban on smoking while driving.

From Sunday it will be an offence to smoke in an enclosed public place and LARSOA fears this may mean many more smokers lighting up in their cars on their way to and from non-smoking destinations.

Government research figures¹ show that, in 2005, a total of 50 fatal crashes involved a distraction inside the vehicle as a contributory factor. In-car distractions were recorded in a further 337 crashes in which someone was seriously injured and 2,538 where there was a lesser injury.

Recent calls on the Government from LARSOA to consider introducing a blanket ban on smoking while driving met with some controversy from pro-smokers and set off a fiery public debate but polls by What Car? Magazine and ebay motors showed a majority in favour of introducing a ban.

A total of 70% of British people think smoking at the wheel is so dangerous it should be banned and is equally distracting as using a hand-held mobile phone while driving. A third of those surveyed by ebay admitted having driven carelessly when lighting and stubbing out cigarettes, flicking ash and trying to deal with lit butts blown back into the car after being thrown out the window, disregarding the safety of other road users.

David Frost, LARSOA's Press and Public Relations Officer, says: "The surveys for ebay motors and What Car? are backed up by the RAC Report on Motoring 2007², based on a large scale survey and focus group discussions, which found 57% of respondents thought it acceptable as a safety initiative to stop people eating, drinking or smoking at the wheel."

Research from Australia³ suggests smokers are more likely to crash than non-smokers and that people who were smoking while driving were more likely to crash than those who were not.

David adds: "This issue has raised the debate on the responsibilities we have as drivers to ourselves, our passengers and other road users. Distraction in the vehicle can be deadly and smoking is quite literally playing with fire when you should be concentrating on driving. Throwing the butt out of the window shows a complete disregard for other road users, especially pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.

"While smoking drivers, have to take their eyes off the road and hands off the wheel in a similar way to using a mobile phone which the Government has already made a specific offence and recently increased the fine to £60 with drivers incurring three penalty points on their licence."

Road traffic legislation already places responsibility on all drivers to have proper control of their vehicles. Any motorist who fails to do so, for whatever reason, such as smoking, or eating and drinking, is liable to prosecution.

The new edition of The Highway Code includes "smoking" in the list of potential distractions to be avoided when driving.

Under the new smoking laws, drivers who drive a company vehicle for work, will be banned from lighting up behind the wheel.
The new law will require vehicles to be smoke free if they are used:
· to transport members of the public
· in the course of paid or voluntary work by more than one person regardless of whether they are in the vehicle at the same time.

Most local authorities around the country also instruct their employees not to use hands-free mobile phones while they are driving and to find a parking place if they need to make or answer a call. Similarly, drivers of local authority vehicles will not be able to smoke while inside them.

"Lapses in concentration when driving can cost lives. We urge people to be responsible and not smoke and drive. Think about the human cost if you were to cause a collision." says David.

ABOUT LARSOA

LARSOA is a national road safety organisation representing road safety officers (RSOs) employed in local government across the UK.

LARSOA represents 185 of the 200 eligible local authorities across the UK, assisting RSOs to fulfil their statutory role to reduce the number and severity of road casualties through education, training and publicity programmes.

LARSOA publishes an up-to-date round-up of road safety news from across the UK on its website www.larsoa.org.uk .

LARSOA also aims to influence national debate - government policy and action together with public opinion. The association works to achieve national recognition for road safety issues, commissions research into behaviour which contributes to road collisions and develops national road safety campaigns.

The association assists in identifying achievable national targets to reduce the number of collisions on the country's roads.