You smoke? Better not drive if this law passes
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Yet more proof that some people are way to quick on the trigger in curbing personal freedoms.
If you smoke, you better think twice about driving if this proposed law catches on. Read on for article on the topic. Headline is linked. (From Reuters / Yahoo! odd news)
Lawmakers want to ban smoking for drivers
Tue May 3,11:05 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - Several German lawmakers want to ban smoking while driving, saying it's hazardous.
"The dangers of causing an accident rise drastically when you smoke and drive," said Peter Danckert of the ruling Social Democrats. "I want a complete ban on smoking for drivers."
Danckert and Katherina Reiche of the opposition Christian Democrats told Germany's best-selling newspaper, Bild, they will push for legislation to outlaw smoking for drivers.
Reiche noted parliament had passed a law outlawing the use of cell phones for drivers.
"Cigarettes are just as much of a distraction as cell phones," she said. "We need a new law banning it with fines."
German motoring club ADAC spokesman Rainer Hillgaertner dismissed the idea, saying: "Eating chocolate bars, bananas or fish sandwiches while driving is also dangerous."
As noted, several jurisdictions (in the world, not just in the U.S.) have banned the use of cell phones for drivers, or at least required the use of "hands free" devices for phone usage while driving. Done in the name of safety, mostly because some users of the devices are too stupid to learn when to end their conversations and just concentrate on driving, more personal freedom was given up so that the government can monitor us all and make sure that we are doing what we should have been doing to begin with - PAYING ATTENTION TO THE ROAD.
Now we have politicians that are deciding that smoking is too distracting while driving, and because of that, smoking may be banned while driving.
As the article continues, what is next? Ban eating / drinking while driving? Ban sex while driving (oops, that one probably makes a lot of sense
)? or something more serious!?!
Where and when will the politicians stop trying to save us from ourselves, and realize that people must bear some personal responsibilty in these areas??
Admittedly, I've seen plenty of drivers who were smokers that I'd like to have a road site conversation with while holding a trooper's ticket book - mostly because of people that toss butts outside the window while ignoring the fact that their motor vehicle is equipped with a device called an ash tray. Or the clods and morons that dump said device (ash tray) onto the parking lot at the grocery store, convenience store, work parking lot, or wherever else they so choose. Then there are the "challenged" individuals like the former owner of the used Dodge Intreprid that I looked at recently that burned several holes in the seat of car because of dropped ashes or cigarettes that were left burning and sitting on the seat (which raises a few questions: #1 just how damned long does one have to let the ashes at the tip of a burning cigarette get before flicking the ashes -- hopefully into the ash tray, and not out the window, and #2 who in their right mind sets down a burning cigarette, even for a second, on anything other than an ash tray???)
Obviously there's a disconnect out there in the educational area, where people that use cigarettes are not being taught to use ash trays. Perhaps it's because you hardly see them anywhere now, with smoking outlawed in many public places, but I prefer to think it's because people that smoke just generally seem to be ignorant of their environment -- perhaps clouded by the smoke they are inhaling and exhaling -- and they just don't even notice that they are walking around polluting the environment around them in so many ways.
Still, circling back to the topic at hand - be wary of the possibility that more personal freedom is going to go away. Again, if smokers can be targetted, then so can eaters, drinkers, talkers, and anyone that isn't driving like a mindless zombie following instructions from a GPS device.
If you smoke, you better think twice about driving if this proposed law catches on. Read on for article on the topic. Headline is linked. (From Reuters / Yahoo! odd news)
Lawmakers want to ban smoking for drivers
Tue May 3,11:05 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - Several German lawmakers want to ban smoking while driving, saying it's hazardous.
"The dangers of causing an accident rise drastically when you smoke and drive," said Peter Danckert of the ruling Social Democrats. "I want a complete ban on smoking for drivers."
Danckert and Katherina Reiche of the opposition Christian Democrats told Germany's best-selling newspaper, Bild, they will push for legislation to outlaw smoking for drivers.
Reiche noted parliament had passed a law outlawing the use of cell phones for drivers.
"Cigarettes are just as much of a distraction as cell phones," she said. "We need a new law banning it with fines."
German motoring club ADAC spokesman Rainer Hillgaertner dismissed the idea, saying: "Eating chocolate bars, bananas or fish sandwiches while driving is also dangerous."
As noted, several jurisdictions (in the world, not just in the U.S.) have banned the use of cell phones for drivers, or at least required the use of "hands free" devices for phone usage while driving. Done in the name of safety, mostly because some users of the devices are too stupid to learn when to end their conversations and just concentrate on driving, more personal freedom was given up so that the government can monitor us all and make sure that we are doing what we should have been doing to begin with - PAYING ATTENTION TO THE ROAD.
Now we have politicians that are deciding that smoking is too distracting while driving, and because of that, smoking may be banned while driving.
As the article continues, what is next? Ban eating / drinking while driving? Ban sex while driving (oops, that one probably makes a lot of sense
)? or something more serious!?!Where and when will the politicians stop trying to save us from ourselves, and realize that people must bear some personal responsibilty in these areas??
Admittedly, I've seen plenty of drivers who were smokers that I'd like to have a road site conversation with while holding a trooper's ticket book - mostly because of people that toss butts outside the window while ignoring the fact that their motor vehicle is equipped with a device called an ash tray. Or the clods and morons that dump said device (ash tray) onto the parking lot at the grocery store, convenience store, work parking lot, or wherever else they so choose. Then there are the "challenged" individuals like the former owner of the used Dodge Intreprid that I looked at recently that burned several holes in the seat of car because of dropped ashes or cigarettes that were left burning and sitting on the seat (which raises a few questions: #1 just how damned long does one have to let the ashes at the tip of a burning cigarette get before flicking the ashes -- hopefully into the ash tray, and not out the window, and #2 who in their right mind sets down a burning cigarette, even for a second, on anything other than an ash tray???)
Obviously there's a disconnect out there in the educational area, where people that use cigarettes are not being taught to use ash trays. Perhaps it's because you hardly see them anywhere now, with smoking outlawed in many public places, but I prefer to think it's because people that smoke just generally seem to be ignorant of their environment -- perhaps clouded by the smoke they are inhaling and exhaling -- and they just don't even notice that they are walking around polluting the environment around them in so many ways.
Still, circling back to the topic at hand - be wary of the possibility that more personal freedom is going to go away. Again, if smokers can be targetted, then so can eaters, drinkers, talkers, and anyone that isn't driving like a mindless zombie following instructions from a GPS device.
