That’s what they want in Germany.
Smoking is increasingly seen worse but, at least for now, in Spain there is no law that prohibits doing it at the wheel, at least not directly. However, in Germany they are considering imposing a fine of up to 3,000 euros by appealing to the health of passengers.
As pointed out by 24auto, the Bundesrat, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein have initiated an amendment to paragraphs 1, 2 and 5 of the Federal Non-Smoker Protection Act to apply sanctions strict on drivers who smoke in certain circumstances.
If he circulated alone in the vehicle, nothing would happen, but things would change depending on the passengers he had in it and who they were. Thus, if they were minors or pregnant women, the body understands that their health would be threatened, since they would have no way to escape the smoke and its concentration is very high.
For this reason, it would be advocated to modify the law to implement fines that ranged between 500 and 3,000 euros. In addition, driving with the windows open would not help to avoid the penalty either: the only way would be to go behind the wheel of a convertible and take the hood completely open.
The Federal Council refers to the data relating to passive smoking to justify this movement: worldwide 166,000 children die annually from this cause.
What is the situation in Spain? The Government has proposed a ban on smoking in the car, but for the moment it has not materialized. The regulation that affects this act is indirect.
Thus, the fine for being distracted at the wheel, which is 100 euros but not points, could be applied if the agent considers that smoking was distracting the driver’s attention. From the DGT they have pointed out on occasions that it is a distraction similar to using the browser and that just lighting a cigarette takes four seconds.
What is considered a serious offense is the fact of throwing cigarette butts out the windows, something that is sanctioned with fines of 500 euros and also involves the removal of six points.
