You are Officer Crabtree, the British spy posing as a French police officer from 'Allo 'Allo, and I claim my £5.

Every time I see this thread title on the main board I think to myself 'where's the campaign?'. Is there a campaign, is it a request for us to campaign - a call to arms if you will, is there a petition, what WHAT?!!!

what concerns me is that your allowed to drive what was the BMW M3 look alike car?
i'm intrigued.

seriously? i've been lighting cigarettes for 25 years and can't remember the last time i had to look at the fag end when doing so.

can you remember the last time you read a post properly?

yes i did read it properly, your assertion is that we do things like look down at the end without even being aware of it...i'm saying i don't. is that ok with you?

you must burn your face, hair [if you`ve any that hangs in front or a fringe] and the fag half the way up an awful lot then.

i smoked for 40 years, don`t believe you.

firstly i couldn't care less what you believe.
secondly it's within everyone's coordination limitations and capabilities to lift your hand 2 inches from your face and light a cigarette without having to take your eyes off the road...you say you've given up, perhaps your too old to remember.

what do you smoke? dog ends?

nah, not buying it, whether you think you don`t or not, you do look to make sure your aim is on.

i must have forgotten the inch filter. i love your propensity for pedantry, you must be a joy to live with

no, in my real world we banter a bit harder than here and piss taking is perfectly normal.

i've just nipped out for a fag and managed to light it without looking at it...honest! it's incredibly foggy round my way, or perhaps it was smoke from all the others who'd set fire to their fringes...you could tell the ones who didn't look at their fag ends when lighting up as they were all walking into the smoking hut. it's a hazard smoking....it'll get you one way or the other! tell me, do you follow a spoon from your bowl to your mouth because i've just managed to do that too whilst keeping eye contact with a monitor, how bizarre!

rightio.

I wonder.... Do blind people smoke?

Oh yes, they do don't they; and they seem to manage fine without a trip to Casualty every time they spark up. Now how do you think they manage that, I wonder?

i think we can safely assume they aren`t driving at the time.

there are many published papers for you to read through on the subject, i can`t be arsed linking because as the berlin thread shows, no one bothers looking at them.

Here we go, smokers are the pit of society. Dirty, filthy and insensitive. Guess what, we can't enjoy a cigarette with a drink, we can't have an after dinner cigarette in a restaurant. If I want to have a smoke in the confines of MY car whilst sat in hours of traffic every day, I will.

I respect nonsmokers desire not to have to inhale my smoke which is why I won't smoke in the street but in my car, my rules apply. I don't like the smell of McDonalds or stale beer but I wouldn't dream of criticising people for making me smell it.

That's not the pertinent point. Your assertion is that a person can't light up without looking at the end of the cigarette to guide the match or lighter. I'm suggesting that it is possible. Proof is that blind people manage it without too much fuss.

There's also a related claim by Princessxxxx that drivers can't cope with even very minor distractions without seriously compromising their attention to driving to such a degree that there's a serious risk of an accident. I'm calling bullshit on this. The consensus of opinions here is that any competent driver who can't cope with a minor distraction without potentially sticking their car in to a ditch really shouldn't be driving in the first place.

Even if there are absolutely no distractions in the car - so no radio or passengers, no drinks or ciggies, and the car is an automatic so not even the distraction of changing gear other than shifting from park to drive and back, then they're still going to be thinking about other things from time-to-time as they drive.

Lord it's years since I've heard that one used in polite conversation!

Whilst I do appreciate that smoking tobacco of any description (do you feel the same way about people with electronic cigarettes or Vapesticks, I wonder) is an abomination to you and that you have chosen this vehicle (nudge nudge) to voice your hatred of the habit could I share my own observation that drivers who have children in the car often do not give 100% attention to their driving or traffic because they are constantly checking (a) what the child is/children are doing or (b) responding to something the child has/children have done or said. I single out children as attention-grabbers as opposed to adults with whom a driver may be having a riveting/diverting conversation because at least with adults you don't generally also have to monitor whether they are about to do something which may result in harming themselves or others. The same cannot be said of children, which is why drivers are constantly monitoring them - thus momentarily, but often, losing concentration.

someone who is blind and lighting a smoke is able to apply full concentration to it, they are not driving at the time.

there`s also quite a few blogs of blind people who mention the difficulties of lighting a cigarette, one has detailed instructions.

History shows us that it's possible to ask researchers to study a wide variety of questions in such a way that the conclusions will support the funder's bias.

"Does sucking a sweet whilst driving cause a distraction for the driver? " would result in the inevitable answer Yes.

The better question would be "Does sucking a sweet whilst driving cause a distraction for the driver to such a degree that it significantly increases the risk of them having an accident? " to which the answer would be No.

things like concentration and multi tasking are studied with experiments, not polls.

I didn't say poll. I said "ask researchers to study a question". If you're going to try to debate with me then please don't try to put words in my mouth, thanks.

Is there any data on the relative risks of sucking sweets, as opposed to Lollipops?

I've spent time with blind people who have been able to carry on a conversation whilst lighting a cigarette. Ditto for eating during a conversation. I've even been in the company of a blind pianist who could light a cig with one hand whilst continuing to play with the other.

The fact that you've found some blogs written by people who struggle with doing two tasks at once isn't proof that all people struggle doing two tasks at once.

i misread your post.

no one conducting such an experiment would be asking the question in the manner of your first example.