Traffic police begin enforcing law banning smoking whilst driving

By Dalya Dajani

Trying to keep a straight face as the police officer approached him, Said rolled down his car window without flinching.

“I knew I was defeated as soon as he saw me, so I didn't bother to make an excuse. What's more, I wasn't even wearing my seat belt,” said Said, who had been driving in Shmeisani at the time.

“The policeman was listing my traffic violations, like talking on my cell phone and making an illegal lane change, but I was surprised when he told me I had broken the law banning smoking whilst driving,” said the young salesman.

Said had no idea that smoking behind the wheel was banned in Jordan last month, and if caught, violators are fined between JD5 and JD15.

He said the roadside poster he saw several weeks ago only indicated that smoking was banned in public transportation vehicles.

But the traffic officer let him off easy. For smoking while driving, Said was fined JD5. For the other violations, not a fils.

With the proverbial slap on the wrist, the chain-smoking youth was on the road again. He admits he doesn't care about the new law and still lights up on the road.

“It's my personal freedom in my personal space, I'm not bothering anyone else with my smoke, so I don't really get this ban,” said Said, who believes that citizens were not properly informed about the new ban before it went into force.

His colleague, Shadi, 25, also none the wiser when it came to hearing about the new ban, took his experience less lightly.

Shadi was driving past the 7th Circle when a traffic officer pulled him over and ticketed him for smoking.

“I really had no idea that we were not allowed to smoke while driving; it's not fair. I tried to reason with the policeman, but he refused to listen, and so I ended up tearing up the ticket in his face,” said a visibly frustrated Shadi.

His anger aside, Shadi admits the dangers of smoking behind the wheel and now parks his car on the side of the road to smoke or use his cell phone.

In the United States, actions such as changing the dial on the radio, lighting a cigarette, reading a map or dialing a cell phone play a part in one out of every four motor vehicle crashes, according to Shell's Deadly Distractions booklet.

Road accident researchers note that drivers who reach out for their mobile phones are “dialing for disaster” as their risks of getting into an accident are higher by 400 per cent.

However, what continues to baffle many Jordanians who, like Shadi, were taken by surprise, is the rationale behind the “no-smoking while driving” ban that was introduced last month.

“If the ban is a matter of road safety, then I suggest we first take a look at the conditions of some of our roads, like gargantuan speed bumps that have wrecked my car four times already over the past year,” said Tareq, a banker who smokes nearly two packs a day before his working day is over.

He believes that, if it is a health issue, responsible authorities should first think about enforcing anti-smoking laws more stringently elsewhere, before targeting drivers in the privacy of their cars.

Although the country's Public Health Law of 1979 and the smoking hazards' regulations of 1977 ban smoking in public places and inside government-run vehicles, public servants, senior officers, and citizens continue to smoke in public offices with abandon.

Head of the National Anti-Smoking Society Waleed Nazzal believes the smoking while driving ban is the right approach towards curbing the swelling number of smokers in the Kingdom.

“Although the new ban was principally applied for road safety reasons, it is also a matter of health, as it's the correct trend towards curbing smoking in Jordan,” he said.

While Nazzal commended the Traffic Department for its assistance in the anti-smoking crusade, he did, however, say that the ban had not been publicised enough before being enforced.

Either way, for Tareq, whose morning cigarette is an “essential nerve-soother” while driving to work, being deprived of that pleasure from now on is bad news.

“But then again,” he added jokingly, “for a smoking culture like ours, the authorities probably realise that fining people may be the only way of getting them to stop!”