As a ban on smoking in cars with children comes into force, here are seven more things you could once do in your car - but can't any more
A ban on smoking in cars in which children are passengers comes into force today.
The ban, which is aimed at restricting the exposure of children to harmful cigarette smoke, will mean that anyone caught smoking in a car carrying someone under the age of 18 will be liable for a fine of £50.
Experts currently think that millions of children could be being exposed to cigarette smoke in cars, a situation in which the harmful components of the smoke can take as much as an hour to dissipate, leading to thousands of extra hospital trips every year.
However, police have said that they will take a “non-confrontational” approach to the ban, choosing to “educate” drivers rather than prosecute them.
Of course, smoking with children on board isn’t the only thing that you can no longer do in your car. Ever since the heady post-war days when car ownership burgeoned, the list of restrictions for safety’s sake has also grown.
Here are seven more things you can’t do in your car now, but which, once upon a time, were considered perfectly appropriate.
Using a mobile phone
Once upon a time, British drivers were free to bimble about at the wheel of their cars while happily texting, dialling numbers on their hand-held mobile phones, and taking one hand out of action completely in order to hold the phone.
Now, though, it’s against the law, and has been since 2003, and as of 2007, the standard penalty has been a £60 fine and three points on the driver’s licence.
Letting your pet sit on the seats
It’s a little-known rule of the road, but letting your pet travel in a car with you is prohibited by the Highway Code, unless the pet is restrained somehow.
The Code says: “When in a vehicle make sure dogs or other animals are suitably restrained so they cannot distract you while you are driving or injure you, or themselves, if you stop quickly.
"A seat belt harness, pet carrier, dog cage or dog guard are ways of restraining animals in cars.” Allowing a pet to travel in the boot of a hatchback or an estate is also considered a suitable method of restraint, as long as it can’t distract the driver.
While the Code itself cannot be used to prosecute you, it can be used as evidence in court proceedings; in other words, if you had caused an accident because of an unrestrained pet that was distracting you, you would likely be found guilty of an offence such as driving without due care and attention as a result.
Driving under the influence of alcohol
One of the oldest laws against doing something in your car, this one. It’s been in force since 1966, when it was unveiled as part of the Road Safety Bill, and the breathalyser was introduced the following year in order to help police it.
Back then, of course, driving while drunk was seen as the norm – and it wasn’t for around 20 years that it started to be seen as socially irresponsible by the majority of the public.
Today, thanks to continuous campaigning and hard-hitting government adverts, drink-driving is seen as morally reprehensible – but it’s still a problem, with the number of recorded drink-drive fatalities having risen in 2013.
Travelling without a seat belt
It’s been the law to belt up in the UK since 1983, and today it’s become almost unheard of to travel without one.
However, what’s less well-known is that there are exceptions to the law in which you’re allowed to go without.
They include when you’re reversing, for example, or supervising a learner driver who is, or if you’re driving a goods vehicle that’s travelling no more than 50 metres between stops.
You’re also allowed to go without if you’re in the motor trade and investigating a fault as a passenger, or if you’re a licensed taxi driver who’s either “plying for hire” or carrying passengers.
Interestingly, you’re also allowed to drive without a belt if you’re in a vehicle being used for police, fire and rescue services.
Carrying in a child under 3 in a car without seat belts
Some classic cars don’t actually have seat belts fitted – it still isn’t a legal requirement for owners to have them retro-fitted.
However, relatively few people know that in such cars, it’s illegal to carry any children aged below three. Meanwhile, children aged over three are allowed to be carried, but only in the rear seats.
Eating, drinking, smoking, or applying make-up
Common sense, really. But these actions don’t fall under an explicit law prohibiting them; instead, they count as not being in proper control of a vehicle.
Motorists have been prosecuted in the past for all of them – and even when they haven’t been caught by the long arm of the law, the eagle eye of social media has seen them exposed online.
Using a rear-facing child seat in the front
Now that passenger airbags are standard on all cars, it’s important to avoid using a rear-facing child seat in the front seat. Doing so could cause terrible injuries to the infant contained therein If the airbag goes off.
As a result, it’s now against the law to use a rear-facing child seat in the front passenger seat of a car fitted with a passenger airbag – unless, that is, the airbag has been deactivated.