Traditional tobacco cigarettes pose a host of risks to the smoker’s health, most of which most people are very familiar with including lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, and the list goes on. But did you realize that those who smoke regular cigarettes also increase the risk of being in a car accident by two-to-three times that of normal driving?
Due to the inattention that comes with lighting or extinguishing a cigarette and smoking while driving in addition to the potential of what can happen if a burning cigarette falls in the driver’s lap, this becomes yet another health risk of smoking regular cigarettes.
Electronic cigarettes don’t burn. There is nothing to light and you don’t have to worry about anything catching on fire. The driver is left to focus on his driving.
While unrelated to auto accidents, if there are passengers riding in the car they don’t have to worry about being packed in an enclosed area with secondhand smoke or dealing with the stench. While some drivers that smoke regular cigarettes think that by cracking the window the smoke will sail out of the vehicle and down the road, passengers know otherwise. In the winter, they’ll also be getting a blast of cold air along with the noxious fumes.
Cigarette stubs thrown out the window while driving have been known to start grass fires- another huge hazard of smoking regular tobacco.
E-cigs cause none of this.
While switching to vaping could certainly lower the risks of a number of different smoking-related accidents, there could be some distraction to the driver should he or she reach for their e-cig and not keep their eye on the road.
Still, it’s clear to see that compared to the risks of traditional smoking, e-cigs are much safer in many ways.