There is currently no express ban on smoking at the wheel. At least not in our country, where the DGT does, however, warn of the dangers of the distraction involved in smoking while driving.
For some time now, tobacco has not been tolerated, or has been banned, in many places but… what about in your own vehicle, while it is moving? The answer comes from the Directorate-General for Traffic itself: it recently clarified that you can smoke in a car without being penalised or fined. This does not mean that the body recommends this practice while driving – far from it: “it is extremely dangerous”, Pere Navarro has acknowledged. He has also made it very clear that, if the Ministry of Health were to ban smoking in cars, he would support such a measure.
Smoking is distracting. That is what driving manuals say, and it does not seem an exaggerated claim when you consider that we often do not have our cigarettes to hand: you have to reach out, feel around in your bag, find where the cigarettes are, take one out, light it, and so on. What is more, some claim that smokers are involved in twice as many accidents as non-smoking drivers.
It is possible to fall into dangerous behaviour or more reckless driving while smoking a cigarette. Another negative factor is night-time itself, since carbon monoxide and smoke reduce vision and increase reaction time. It is no wonder that it is banned in North America (Canada and the United States), as well as in Australia.
How would your reactions be affected by smoking while driving?
According to the DGT itself, reactions would be impaired. As regards attention, it provides some figures: the 4.1 seconds it takes to light a cigarette mean, at 100 km/h, travelling 113 metres without paying full attention to the road. The DGT stresses that 60% of accidents are caused by a distraction. Smoking is a distraction for at least a few minutes: hence the danger.
For this reason, and despite smoking at the wheel being permitted, if traffic officers consider that a manoeuvre in itself has interfered with driving – putting our safety and that of others at risk – they can fine us 100 euros; in other words, for a minor offence.
It would be another matter to throw a cigarette end out of the car window which, as well as being antisocial and disrespectful to the environment, can cause a fire. The traffic regulations state that, if caught red-handed, we must pay a 200-euro fine. On top of the fine, four points are deducted from the driving licence.