Are you one of those cigarette-puffing motorists on the road? Are you familiar with the law set by the highway authorities? Don’t you know it’s a big risk smoking cigarettes when driving? If you feel guilty, you’re maybe one of these UK citizens… Listen up!UK has over 3 million UK motorists who have been involved in road accidents due to lapses or ‘near misses’ in attentiveness due to in-car smoking distractions. eSure car insurance brought in a study and revealed that an astounding 45 percent of motorists who are regular in-car smokers will disregard the new rules carried out in the revised Highway Code and they are eager to light up more cancer sticks while driving. When the results came in, it also revealed that 68 percent confessed that they’ve not even read the existing Highway Code ever since passing their driving tests. Remember, even if you have an awesome Saturn headlight, it doesn’t mean you’re cool enough when you smoke in a nice ride.
Smoking in the car is an action police may believe as ‘not allowing proper control of a car’ according to the new Highway Code. Research by eSure exposes a raft of prospected hazardous behaviors related to in-car smoking. Here are the dangerous habits presented by eSure car insurance at TheAutoChannel.com:
DANGEROUS HABITS
- An enormous 80 per cent of motorists confess to taking their hands off the wheel in order to light a cigarette
- 75 per cent of motorists assume that smoking at the same time driving on a motorway is tolerable and causes no danger although they are traveling at high speeds.
- 46 percent of people have accidentally dropped their cigarette in the car. Even more disturbing, over a quarter (26 per cent) have taken their eyes off the road in order to retrieve it
- 45 percent admit to eliminating of their cigarette butt by throwing it out of the car, which is highly dangerous if the cigarette is not correctly put out
- 88 percent of smokers admit that they are more likely to light up in the car when they are feeling stressed out
ATTITUDES
- 47 percent of people are pro-smoking in cars whilst 53 percent are against it – showing how divided opinions are on this issue
- 66 percent of non-smokers would like to see an official in-car smoking ban introduced, compared to only 11 per cent of smokers
- Almost a quarter (26 percent) of people who smoke in their car say they’ve been forced to because of the new laws banning smoking in public places offering them small choices.
- Nearly a quarter (27 percent) of people light up with children in the car, even though having a child passenger can be a key distraction in itself and therefore the safety of passengers in the car is also being put in danger