driving when drunk is dangerous isnt driving when smoking with children in car just as bad?

Question

i absolutely hate seeing people driving along, smoking with a couple of kids in the car, when people say to me no one ever got in a car and killed anybody because they are smoking, it is their arguement that smoking is not as bad as alcohol, but if they smoke in a car with others in the car it is dangerous dont you think

Answer 1

not even close to the same thing..

if you're drunk you are putting your people and everyone else on the road at risk. if you're smoking you put children at risk of lung cancer, but i'm sure they get more smoke blown on them at home anyways, so stopping it in the car wouldn't really help..

and if you're talking about dangerous driving (and not the smoke danger), i'd put cell phones above that

Answer 2

Um, you're talking apples and oranges here.

Yes, it is bad to drink and drive. Yes, it is bad to smoke while your kids are in the car. Are they the same kind of bad? Not even close.

Which is worse? Well, I've never seen the mangled bodies of children on the side of the road because of cigarette smoke. Smoking regularly increases the RISK of certain diseases, years down the line, if things go wrong. The danger can be reduced later, when the child grows up and leaves that environment, the harm slowly fades. Driving drunk regularly will harm you, or someone else, probably within a year, and without any way of mitigating the danger.

Answer 3

I hope they don't add it to the list of things you can't do when you are driving - but I do agree it can be dangerous.

I have accidentally stubbed the cigarette on the window (instead of getting it through the gap), dropped the cig on my knee, lost a lighter, worried that the butt didn't go out of the window properly and is smouldering on the back seat etc. All of it is very distracting.

I would never smoke with kids (or adults), or non smokers in the car - not the dangerous bit - just the passive smoking, and I don't think its fair.

However - drink and driving is disgusting - all drunk drivers should be banned for life - it affects co-ordination and judgement, and far too many people are killed by idiots. Smoking is safer!!

Answer 4

both the smoke and the drunk driving carry risk, however the second hand smoke has a more long-term corrosive effect which won't be realized with a brief exposure. drunk drivers are a menace to themselves and others and can kill or maim within an instant, so the risk of harm from contact with them seems greater. Another way to put it, would you rather stand in front of a smoker for 2 minutes or a drunk driver coming at you on the road?

Answer 5

It's disgusting and anything which distracts the driver form driving, aside from the fact the children are being poisoned, is dangerous.
I think people should get points for using mobile phones, having had a drink, smoking, eating or being otherwise distracted at the wheel. The same should go people who drive having used drugs recently.
The other day on my slow drive home, the woman behind me and my car (and I not making a special example of women drivers, just this one!), took two mobile calls, ate a sandwich, drank a can of diet coke, retouched her lipstick, brushed her hair and reapplied mascara all while supposedly driving responsibly!

Answer 6

I agree that it is dangerous. Perhaps it isn't quite the same because drunk driving can cause a horrible accident right then, and inflicting smoke on children and others poses long-term rather than immediate danger. But yes, it is dangerous, selfish, stupid and just gross!
Plus, whenever someone takes one hand and their attention off the road for whatever reason - talking on the phone, eating, changing the radio, smoking, etc. - they are being dangerous and the lapse in concentration could cause an accident.

Answer 7

Its not nice, and its irresponsible parenting to smoke around your children whether in a car or not. But its not as dangerous as drink driving. Drink driving you could kill someone or yourself, or many people. Even if you just crash and dont kill yourself you put your family through hell, you take the time of the police and the ambulance and the hospital who could be doing something better than looking after a drunken idiot.
Smoking in a car is not as bad as this. But I do not approve of it either and I really dont like people who smoke around children, pregnant women, or just non-smokers in general. Its a nasty habit.

Answer 8

Probably not good for the passengers that they have,as passive smoking isn't good,unlike a drunk driver that can swerve across the road and wipe an entire family out and maybe more within a few minutes of being on the road,I don't quite think the two compare.

Answer 9

I assume you want laws passed to this effect.

Sure, and since we are going to make that leap, let's go ahead and make it illegal to take your kids to McDonalds more than once a month, or how about we just weigh kids in and fine their parents ten dollars for every pound their child is overweight. Obesity kills just as many people as smoking and we are trying to make "fat" a protected status while taking away rights of individuals and businesses in regards to smoking. Then to protect more of the populace we could lock everyone with AIDS in a cage so that they don't spread the disease, take away all cars and return to the horse and buggy, and maybe pass some additional gun laws. It is not the governments place to protect us from our own vices. It is time to reign in our politicians, and ask them to stay out of our private lives.

Answer 10

It was recently reported that 6000 children die a year from complications of second-hand smoke. I think that this is awful and agree that parents shouldn't be allowed to smoke with their children around. In fact, I don't think that they should drink (I work at a restaurant and see this frequently) and then get in the car and drive their children someplace. People are selfish and don't see themselves as posing a threat to their own children. Silly, silly them. It is a joke that we have at work that people should have to take a test before procreating and if they fail they should be chemically castrated. LOL, funny but true.

Answer 11

I assume you mean cigarettes. No, of course it's not "just as bad." Tobacco is not mind altering. A person does not get "drunk" or "high" smoking tobacco. Cigarette smoking does not impair one's vision, reaction time, or judgment. Now, that's not to say it isn't a bad idea. But, you can not compare cigarette smoking with drugs and alcohol when driving an automobile.