Smoking rules
The new highway code has been released. Now the police can apparantly decide that if you are smoking whilst driving, you could be prosecuted for driving without due care and attention.
What the flip?
Does this mean I could be prosecuted for, say, turning up the heater or changing the radio station? Or even for changing gears? All of those require one hand to leave the wheel and a momentary distraction from watching for speed cameras. Hell, sneezing should be outlawed too.
The Road Safety Minister, a Mr Jim Fitzpatrick said "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."
Has this man ever seen a cigarette being lit? You don't hold it in one hand and hold the lighter in the other. You stick the thing in your mouth and light it using one hand. The other hand would remain on the wheel. In any case, people generally do it whilst stopped at traffic lights or something anyway. People aren't usually stupid.
To make it worse, I now pass various signs by the roadside (written too small so I'm distracted trying to read them) telling passing motorists that roads are not ashtrays and you can be fined £80 for dropping a cigarette end out of the car window. How stupid is that? For a start, people don't walk on roads so, really, who cares about a few butts? Nobody sees them. Secondly, you would then be forced to attempt to extinguish it in the ashtray, meaning you'd have to take your eyes of the road for a while. Then it might not go out properly, causing a nice fire in the car. Try not being distracted then. Far far safer to just chuck it out the window onto the road.
Also, you are not allowed to be distracted by other people in the car. This seems to be completely at loggerheads with these new high-occupancy lanes that you can only drive in if there are multiple people in the car. And has he ever driven in a car with kids? How can you not be distracted?
But anyway, as you aren't allowed to exceed the limit by the slightest amount these days, you have to spend your whole time watching your speedometer rather than the road in any case.
Glad to see the lunacy is continuing.
What the flip?
Does this mean I could be prosecuted for, say, turning up the heater or changing the radio station? Or even for changing gears? All of those require one hand to leave the wheel and a momentary distraction from watching for speed cameras. Hell, sneezing should be outlawed too.
The Road Safety Minister, a Mr Jim Fitzpatrick said "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."
Has this man ever seen a cigarette being lit? You don't hold it in one hand and hold the lighter in the other. You stick the thing in your mouth and light it using one hand. The other hand would remain on the wheel. In any case, people generally do it whilst stopped at traffic lights or something anyway. People aren't usually stupid.
To make it worse, I now pass various signs by the roadside (written too small so I'm distracted trying to read them) telling passing motorists that roads are not ashtrays and you can be fined £80 for dropping a cigarette end out of the car window. How stupid is that? For a start, people don't walk on roads so, really, who cares about a few butts? Nobody sees them. Secondly, you would then be forced to attempt to extinguish it in the ashtray, meaning you'd have to take your eyes of the road for a while. Then it might not go out properly, causing a nice fire in the car. Try not being distracted then. Far far safer to just chuck it out the window onto the road.
Also, you are not allowed to be distracted by other people in the car. This seems to be completely at loggerheads with these new high-occupancy lanes that you can only drive in if there are multiple people in the car. And has he ever driven in a car with kids? How can you not be distracted?
But anyway, as you aren't allowed to exceed the limit by the slightest amount these days, you have to spend your whole time watching your speedometer rather than the road in any case.
Glad to see the lunacy is continuing.
posted by Nej at
11:51 am
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