Safety body ‘wouldn’t support’ ban on smoking and driving

THE Road Safety Authority (RSA) yesterday said it did not support a ban on smoking and driving in an attempt to cut car crashes.

It was responding to calls by a representative body of road safety officers in Britain for a ban on smoking and driving there. The Local Authority Road Safety Officers’ Association claims drivers are in danger when they take their hands off the wheel to find, light and smoke cigarettes.

They say there is a particular risk if a lit cigarette or ash falls in the car or is blown back through the window.

A report in yesterday’s Observer newspaper said the Department of Health would seriously consider a ban, which was also being looked at in Germany, Australia and the US.

But the RSA said it did not share the viewpoint of the British association. “The RSA wouldn’t support this particular call because we don’t believe that it is possible to legislate for every conceivable activity that would be undertaken in a car,” said chief executive Noel Brett.

Simon Ettinghausen of the British association said: “Driving is a complicated business, especially with the high volume of traffic motorists have to contend with these days.

“It’s not an area where you can multi-task”

He said the move would follow the introduction of a smoking ban in enclosed public places and at work in England on July 1.

A spokesman for the British Department of Health said: “We are looking at how we can get further momentum towards smoking cessation beyond the introduction of the smoking ban. We are looking at further proposals and this could be one of them. If road safety officers put information and evidence before us about this, and explain the case for it, we would study it.”

Garda sources said they can target problems caused by smoking if a motorist is driving without due care and attention or is driving dangerously.