" I wouldn't have guessed you are a smoker!"

[BethanyAnne]

Some states have actually proposed no smoking in personal cars due to dangers while driving. I see more people talking on cell phones while driving than smoking.

I'll be the first to tell you that I would be racking up the tickets on this one. I would tell any cop who says something to me about it oo, I have been smoking and driving since I got my license and have yet to get into an accident. Until the government starts to pay my car note then they have no right to tell me I can't smoke in my car. They can give me the ticket but it will not be a deterrent.

I don't completely agree with that. While yes, I do believe that you should be able to smoke in your car, I would never get in a car again if the government backed off completely about what one can do while driving. I do believe someone posted once about a woman driving erratically behind her and pulled over to let her pass. The woman was knitting while driving!

[DiamondGirl]

Some states have actually proposed no smoking in personal cars due to dangers while driving. I see more people talking on cell phones while driving than smoking.

I'll be the first to tell you that I would be racking up the tickets on this one. I would tell any cop who says something to me about it oo, I have been smoking and driving since I got my license and have yet to get into an accident. Until the government starts to pay my car note then they have no right to tell me I can't smoke in my car. They can give me the ticket but it will not be a deterrent.

I don't completely agree with that. While yes, I do believe that you should be able to smoke in your car, I would never get in a car again if the government backed off completely about what one can do while driving. I do believe someone posted once about a woman driving erratically behind her and pulled over to let her pass. The woman was knitting while driving!

While I agree they shouldn't back off entirely, it's different when they try to ban smoking. I think that is more because smokers feel like we have so few places where we can smoke. I'll be the first to admit while I try to be a considerate smoker, I don't always succeed. I will always ask if anyone minds if I smoke, while outdoors and no one else is smoking, but until I joined this forum I thought of the ground as my own personal ashtray. I'll admit that even as late as this morning, while driving to work I flicked my completed cigarette out the window and only after it left my hand did I think oh Crud I shouldn't have done that. I'm trying to get better but I think when it comes to that the gov. should just leave us be in our own cars.

[BethanyAnne]

Some states have actually proposed no smoking in personal cars due to dangers while driving. I see more people talking on cell phones while driving than smoking.

I'll be the first to tell you that I would be racking up the tickets on this one. I would tell any cop who says something to me about it oo, I have been smoking and driving since I got my license and have yet to get into an accident. Until the government starts to pay my car note then they have no right to tell me I can't smoke in my car. They can give me the ticket but it will not be a deterrent.

I don't completely agree with that. While yes, I do believe that you should be able to smoke in your car, I would never get in a car again if the government backed off completely about what one can do while driving. I do believe someone posted once about a woman driving erratically behind her and pulled over to let her pass. The woman was knitting while driving!

While I agree they shouldn't back off entirely, it's different when they try to ban smoking. I think that is more because smokers feel like we have so few places where we can smoke. I'll be the first to admit while I try to be a considerate smoker, I don't always succeed. I will always ask if anyone minds if I smoke, while outdoors and no one else is smoking, but until I joined this forum I thought of the ground as my own personal ashtray. I'll admit that even as late as this morning, while driving to work I flicked my completed cigarette out the window and only after it left my hand did I think oh Crud I shouldn't have done that. I'm trying to get better but I think when it comes to that the gov. should just leave us be in our own cars.

In regards to smoking I can mostly agree. If it's consenting adults in a car and it's your car, by all means. The only exception I would find acceptable would be in regard to children who don't really have a say. I am a firm believer that if you are a grown man/woman the decision to smoke is yours and your right. But a baby or young child isn't really given a choice.

 But I do think that how far the government thinks they should be able to go to "protect" people is scary. Kinda reminds me of the giant computer from I Am Robot who says that she is only protecting them by taking away all their rights.

[DiamondGirl]

Some states have actually proposed no smoking in personal cars due to dangers while driving. I see more people talking on cell phones while driving than smoking.

I'll be the first to tell you that I would be racking up the tickets on this one. I would tell any cop who says something to me about it oo, I have been smoking and driving since I got my license and have yet to get into an accident. Until the government starts to pay my car note then they have no right to tell me I can't smoke in my car. They can give me the ticket but it will not be a deterrent.

I don't completely agree with that. While yes, I do believe that you should be able to smoke in your car, I would never get in a car again if the government backed off completely about what one can do while driving. I do believe someone posted once about a woman driving erratically behind her and pulled over to let her pass. The woman was knitting while driving!

While I agree they shouldn't back off entirely, it's different when they try to ban smoking. I think that is more because smokers feel like we have so few places where we can smoke. I'll be the first to admit while I try to be a considerate smoker, I don't always succeed. I will always ask if anyone minds if I smoke, while outdoors and no one else is smoking, but until I joined this forum I thought of the ground as my own personal ashtray. I'll admit that even as late as this morning, while driving to work I flicked my completed cigarette out the window and only after it left my hand did I think oh Crud I shouldn't have done that. I'm trying to get better but I think when it comes to that the gov. should just leave us be in our own cars.

In regards to smoking I can mostly agree. If it's consenting adults in a car and it's your car, by all means. The only exception I would find acceptable would be in regard to children who don't really have a say. I am a firm believer that if you are a grown man/woman the decision to smoke is yours and your right. But a baby or young child isn't really given a choice.

 But I do think that how far the government thinks they should be able to go to "protect" people is scary. Kinda reminds me of the giant computer from I Am Robot who says that she is only protecting them by taking away all their rights.

You know what's funny, when I was growing up my mother smoked in the car with us. Now that I have children I refuse to do it. Don't get me wrong, I do smoke in my car but only in the morning after I dropped my kids off at school. Not on the way to pick them up either because I feel like the smoke lingers.

[Brentwood]

Some states have actually proposed no smoking in personal cars due to dangers while driving. I see more people talking on cell phones while driving than smoking.

I'll be the first to tell you that I would be racking up the tickets on this one. I would tell any cop who says something to me about it oo, I have been smoking and driving since I got my license and have yet to get into an accident. Until the government starts to pay my car note then they have no right to tell me I can't smoke in my car. They can give me the ticket but it will not be a deterrent.

I don't completely agree with that. While yes, I do believe that you should be able to smoke in your car, I would never get in a car again if the government backed off completely about what one can do while driving. I do believe someone posted once about a woman driving erratically behind her and pulled over to let her pass. The woman was knitting while driving!

There are already laws against inattentive driving, careless driving, and reckless driving. I don't think it's necessary to have laws that enumerate just what sorts of behaviors can cause the inattentive, careless or reckless driving. Smoking while driving can be a distraction, but so can changing the radio station or CD, talking, eating, or having children in the car. Nobody is calling for any of these behaviors to be banned in cars.

The knitting woman could be cited for inattentive driving.

[hobish]

Some states have actually proposed no smoking in personal cars due to dangers while driving. I see more people talking on cell phones while driving than smoking.

I'll be the first to tell you that I would be racking up the tickets on this one. I would tell any cop who says something to me about it oo, I have been smoking and driving since I got my license and have yet to get into an accident. Until the government starts to pay my car note then they have no right to tell me I can't smoke in my car. They can give me the ticket but it will not be a deterrent.

I don't completely agree with that. While yes, I do believe that you should be able to smoke in your car, I would never get in a car again if the government backed off completely about what one can do while driving. I do believe someone posted once about a woman driving erratically behind her and pulled over to let her pass. The woman was knitting while driving!

Well, if driving is going to be brought into it and government regulations, too, i think one ought to be able to do whatever one wants to while driving - smoke, drink, fiddle with the radio, put on mascara ... and we all ought to be strapped to the front of our vehicles like a sacrifice to some Aztec God ... that would make for a lot less accidents, i think, no matter who is in/strapped to the front of the vehicle. 

modified for syntax

[bopper]

You can tell some people are smokers...from their voice, and sometimes their skin is more wrinkled and has sort of a yellow cast to it.

[Ceallach]

What exactly does a smoker look like?

 

Yellow, wrinkly, not unlike an egyptian mummy.  Oh wait, maybe that's just my mother.

Seriously though, I'd take it as a compliment.  They're saying you don't stink and you're not prematurely aged plus there's an implication that you're too smart to do a stupid thing like smoke.

Which, when they say that, implies that all smokers do stink, age prematurely, and are dumb. That's why I have a problem with it.

I actually agree with where you're coming from, which is why although I don't think it is something anybody should actually say.  I still think, as per my previous post, that it is in a way complimentary (because unfortunately the smokers we notice most are the inconsiderate ones, it is nice to meet the ones who aren't!)  but it's the kind of comment that does reveal an underlying assumption so is rude.  But I did want to point out that when somebody says it, often it is blurted out from a good place. They are thinking "This person does not demonstrate any of the negative traits I associate with that group" not pointedly saying "Ew, you're part of that group? I now think worse of you".   But of course, making the implication that the group (smokers) that you are part of is bad, is of course rude.  (Even if aspects of it are accurate).

[Dandy Andy's Daddy's Love]

I actually agree with where you're coming from, which is why although I don't think it is something anybody should actually say.  I still think, as per my previous post, that it is in a way complimentary (because unfortunately the smokers we notice most are the inconsiderate ones, it is nice to meet the ones who aren't!)  but it's the kind of comment that does reveal an underlying assumption so is rude.  But I did want to point out that when somebody says it, often it is blurted out from a good place. They are thinking "This person does not demonstrate any of the negative traits I associate with that group" not pointedly saying "Ew, you're part of that group? I now think worse of you".   But of course, making the implication that the group (smokers) that you are part of is bad, is of course rude.  (Even if aspects of it are accurate).

Yay, comprehension!!! I do agree with you that for the most part, when it is blurted out, it is coming from a good place. I also like the bolded part of your post. It's true that the ones we notice are usually the bad ones.

[extranormal]

I don't find that especially complimentary, either. It reminds me of when somebody said to me, "I'd never have guessed you're homeschoolers. Your son is so well adjusted!" And the time somebody was shocked that my husband was a supporter of a certain political party, because "he's so nice!"

Or the classic, which I read in an Erma Bombeck essay, though I don't think it is original to her, "You sure don't sweat much for a fat girl."

When I pay a compliment, I try not to imply that the person has narrowly escaped being a member of a group I find odious.

[PeasNCues]

Just a thought... maybe the banning of smoking in cars isn't only to prevent accidents, etc. Perhaps it is to reduce the amount of toxic litter from people throwing butts out the window? It's probably easier to regulate people smoking in the car rather than the split second when someone tosses the cigarette out.

[penguinpants]

Possible response for the OP:

(while smiling, and leaning in, conspiratorially) ... "Well, I did have cosmetic surgery to remove my horns ... " (stroll away, cackling evilly)

 

[guihong]

I don't smoke, but I've had the opposite-"you look like a smoker"  .  Maybe some of the offense (if any is taken), is that "I can't believe you smoke(d)!" sounds like "You don't LOOK Jewish (or insert religion here)".  What on earth do either category look like?  I get that one quite a bit, to which I answer "You should see half of the congregation". 

I confess I've used "I can't believe you smoked" before, one time to a professor of mine who used to smoke.  I was surprised, because most of his career was lurching up rock cliffs and I couldn't imagine how winded he must have been.  That's what ultimately drove him to quit.

gui

[Twik]

Some states have actually proposed no smoking in personal cars due to dangers while driving. I see more people talking on cell phones while driving than smoking.

I'll be the first to tell you that I would be racking up the tickets on this one. I would tell any cop who says something to me about it oo, I have been smoking and driving since I got my license and have yet to get into an accident. Until the government starts to pay my car note then they have no right to tell me I can't smoke in my car. They can give me the ticket but it will not be a deterrent.

I don't completely agree with that. While yes, I do believe that you should be able to smoke in your car, I would never get in a car again if the government backed off completely about what one can do while driving. I do believe someone posted once about a woman driving erratically behind her and pulled over to let her pass. The woman was knitting while driving!

While I agree they shouldn't back off entirely, it's different when they try to ban smoking. I think that is more because smokers feel like we have so few places where we can smoke. I'll be the first to admit while I try to be a considerate smoker, I don't always succeed. I will always ask if anyone minds if I smoke, while outdoors and no one else is smoking, but until I joined this forum I thought of the ground as my own personal ashtray. I'll admit that even as late as this morning, while driving to work I flicked my completed cigarette out the window and only after it left my hand did I think oh Crud I shouldn't have done that. I'm trying to get better but I think when it comes to that the gov. should just leave us be in our own cars.

Banning smoking by drivers sounds MUCH more appealing if you have ever had the misfortune to be a passenger of a driver who has just dropped a lit cigarette in his lap. It's a rare driver can who can calmly say, "Now, as my clothes are scorching (and everything underneath), I will carefully pull over to the side, after checking my mirrors, and remove the hot ember...."

[DiamondGirl]

Some states have actually proposed no smoking in personal cars due to dangers while driving. I see more people talking on cell phones while driving than smoking.

I'll be the first to tell you that I would be racking up the tickets on this one. I would tell any cop who says something to me about it oo, I have been smoking and driving since I got my license and have yet to get into an accident. Until the government starts to pay my car note then they have no right to tell me I can't smoke in my car. They can give me the ticket but it will not be a deterrent.

I don't completely agree with that. While yes, I do believe that you should be able to smoke in your car, I would never get in a car again if the government backed off completely about what one can do while driving. I do believe someone posted once about a woman driving erratically behind her and pulled over to let her pass. The woman was knitting while driving!

While I agree they shouldn't back off entirely, it's different when they try to ban smoking. I think that is more because smokers feel like we have so few places where we can smoke. I'll be the first to admit while I try to be a considerate smoker, I don't always succeed. I will always ask if anyone minds if I smoke, while outdoors and no one else is smoking, but until I joined this forum I thought of the ground as my own personal ashtray. I'll admit that even as late as this morning, while driving to work I flicked my completed cigarette out the window and only after it left my hand did I think oh Crud I shouldn't have done that. I'm trying to get better but I think when it comes to that the gov. should just leave us be in our own cars.

Banning smoking by drivers sounds MUCH more appealing if you have ever had the misfortune to be a passenger of a driver who has just dropped a lit cigarette in his lap. It's a rare driver can who can calmly say, "Now, as my clothes are scorching (and everything underneath), I will carefully pull over to the side, after checking my mirrors, and remove the hot ember...."

I was just talking about this thread to a friend of mine and we agree. It takes a "special" kind of person to drop a lit cigarette into their own lap. Now I have had an ember burn my finger while driving, it is not enough to lose control of the car, you maybe just flinch a bit. I have also had the misfortune of having a cigarette fly back into my open back window, again that sucks but I did not lose control of my car. I can only imagine that if I were ever "special" enough to drop a lit cigarette in my lap while driving I would lift my bottom up off the seat and find a place to pull over. It sucks to have your seat ruined but a ruined seat is a risk you take when smoking in the car. Oh and before any one says that I would not have the presence of mind to lift my bottom, I will say that I once missed the crack of the window completely and actually hit the window causing the "cherry" of my cigarette to fall into my door handle, and again I didn't freak out.