Autoblog

Eric Biran @ Jan 24th 2008 8:55PM

I'm with SOhp101: smoke if you want to, but keep it in your car. If I had to make some kind of educated guess, I'd say at least 2/3 of smokers either blow their cigarette smoke out the window or hold their cigarette there when in the car.

No thanks, I don't think the rest of us should have to foot the bill on accessories for your habit. You wanna light up? Spring for the lighter and ashtray yourself. What's next? Standard, no-cost beer cozies for drunk drivers?

And FYI, while people are smoking and driving, they are breaking the law by not keeping both hands on the wheel. Probably not nearly the threat that cell phones are, but you can't deny the fact that they're operating several tons of motive steel while also juggling a stick that is partially ON FIRE. Not exactly a recipe for safety. I'm sure some of those cigarette burns we all come across in used cars are from "accidents."

Not all smokers are bad people, and smoking won't make you a bad person, but all this animosity towards them isn't from nowhere. People genuinely are bothered by having to breathe the smoke. Smokers may not want to admit that (and it's especially easy for them to deny, due to the way that smoking dulls one's sense of smell) but it's true. And while they make efforts to avoid bothering others by not smoking indoors, there are still very few smoke free places outdoors. It's almost impossible to enter large buildings, colleges, apartments, drive with the windows/top down, eat outdoors, or go to the beach without having to breathe second hand smoke.

I'm all for freedom of choice (although how much choice is involved in addiction could be argued), don't get me wrong, but due to the cost-vs.-benefits, I'd just as soon see smoking banned for good. Even then, if you manage to light up and aren't bothering anyone, why would anybody complain? And maybe if you do annoy enough people, you get to deal with an annoying fine or something.