How Does Banning Smoking in Cars Sound? UK May Do It

It sounds bad, we smokers know... From our point of view, smoking and driving were practically invented to go together. Some of us here at autoevolution cannot even conceive driving on an open stretch of road, in a test drive car, without a cigarette dangling in between the teeth...

Apparently, the UK Royal College of Physicians can imagine it, and it is even considering turning the brilliant idea into a piece of legislation. How do they justify telling you what to do, while driving in the car you own?

Well, first of all they say they will save you money... A true statement. Then again, being your money, it should be you who decides what to do with them.

Secondly, they say such a law would help prevent passive smoking, especially when children are in the car. Another true statement. Then again, no smoker in his right mind wouldn't smoke while driving with a child on the back seat. And they usually don't.

So, what would the point of such an endeavor be then, apart from annoying more motorists? None, apparently.

The idea is not new, as it has been tried elsewhere as well. Even more, some countries even tried to pass legislation banning eating behind the wheel. Nowhere did such laws lasted, however.

Basically, we agree smoking in general is bad. We also agree smoking in a car can seriously affect the interior of the car and, at times, irreparably change the way in which the inside smells. But going as far as banning smoking in cars...