The Laws About Vaping While Driving

The topic in question of this blog is one of the greyest areas associated with Vaping and many people question whether or not it’s actually legal to vape while driving, especially if you have children in the car as the law passed in recent times that made it an offence to smoke if you had a child passenger.

In this blog, I’m going to take a look at this topic and try and answer any questions you may have and take a look at the facts that are currently out there about if there is any laws involving vaping while driving, and give some do’s and don’ts when it comes to vaping while driving.

Is Vaping While Driving Against The Law?

Let’s get straight into it and answer the question which appears to crop up the most when people ask about vaping while driving.

As far as I can see from my own research, there doesn’t appear to be any clear and concise law that forbids people from vaping while driving. And it ultimately comes down to the Police whether they want to issue a penalty fine to someone if they deem what they are doing to be dangerous while driving.

The law states;

“Anyone that appears to be distracted or impaired whilst driving will be liable for penalisation”

And this is where Vaping while driving could potentially land you in some hot water depending on what device you’re using or what you’re actually doing with your vape when you should be concentrating on the road.

Keep Your Windows Open If You’re Vaping While Driving!

This is a pretty obvious thing to do really, but it’s surprisingly something that a lot of people tend to not to do, especially if the weather is pretty grim out and it’s raining or cold and that’s not having the window open when they’re vaping.

If there’s no ventilation in the car when you’re vaping, this means that your vape clouds aren’t going to be dispersing very easily and will be lingering around in the car and could cause some visual impairment while you’re driving which is the last thing you want.

Keep your window open, even if it’s only a little bit, as this gives good ventilation in the car for your clouds to disperse. If it can’t then your vision is going to be impaired and you then run the risk of having an accident or if a Police Officer happens to drive past and see your car clouded out, you’re going to get pulled over and get a hefty fine and probably points on your licence as well!

Don’t Fill Your Vape Up While Driving!

This goes without saying really again, but there’s some people out there that will try and be clever and fill their vape while driving…if you are one of these people or thinking of doing it just stop and don’t bother!

You need to be giving the road your full attention when driving, and attempting to fill up your vape when you’re driving will certainly mean that you’ll be doing the polar opposite of this, and could lead to causing a serious accident, not only putting yourself at risk, but others on the road or in the car if you’ve got passengers.

Top your vape juice up to full before you set off on your drive, and if you do have to fill it up, make sure you’re pulled over (in a safe place) and do it, don’t try and be smart and write your car off for the sake of a topped up tank!

Sub-Ohm Vaping While Driving Could Spell Trouble

If you’re more of an advanced vaper and use a sub ohm vaping device, you’ll be chucking out some serious clouds more than likely from your device. And using something like this when you’re driving could cause some problems for your vision when driving, even if you have the window open!

Sub-Ohm kits are designed to make big clouds of vaper, more than just a standard vaping device, so if you’re puffing away on these while driving, even if you’re blowing it out of the window, chances are you’re still gonna have some clouds lingering within the car, and it could cause visual impairment to you when driving.

As I mentioned at the top of the article, there isn’t really any laws stating about Vaping while driving, but I have found a quote from Seargant Carl Knapp, who’s a member of the Sussex Road Policing Unit and they said the following;

“The smoke caused by vapes are a distraction and the consequences of them can be dire, all it takes is a moment to become distracted and potentially cause a crash and even worse, a fatality. I strongly advise people to pay 100 per cent attention to the roads when driving as anything that takes that attention away has the potential of severe consequences“

So no clear cut ruling there that Vaping while driving is illegal, but you must be cautious of the distractions that Vaping may cause when you’re driving, and having thick clouds of vapour lurking about in your car certainly can be classed as one of these distractions in my opinion, so maybe opt to use a device that doesn’t produce as much vapour as your cloud machine does!

Is It Illegal To Smoke With A Child In The Car?

Yes, it is against the law to smoke a cigarette while driving if you have a child in the car with you. The law on this actually came into effect back in 2015, but many people still remain uneducated on it.

This law was implemented to protect children passengers in cars from people who may be smoking within the car, as passive smoking/second hand smoke can cause serious harm to anyone, especially children! It also protects the children from the driver of the car being distracted with smoking and things associated with it, such as trying to light it etc.

Is it Illegal To Vape With A Child In The Car?

Another grey area associated with Vaping is this question, but as far as I can tell, it’s not illegal to vape whilst driving with a child in the car with you.

It’s not been proven in any studies that have been published that inhaling second hand vapour/passive vaping is harmful to a person, simply because it isn’t harmful to be inhaling to the user of the E-Cigarette, never mind anyone within close proximity.

You’ve just got to be mindful to keep your eyes on the road, and be considerate of your passengers if you do opt to vape while driving.

Takeaways From This Blog

We reach the end of this blog, and I’ll do a small summary of what I believe to be the key things you should takeaway from this blog;

Good Ventilation Is Essential!

Keep your windows open if you’re vaping while driving, not only if it’s just you in the car, but especially if you have passengers in the car!

Fill Up Your Vape Before You Drive Off!

Goes without saying really, fill your tank up before you set off on your journey and this will mean you won’t have to stop and top up, or get tempted to try and refill while driving.

Keep Your Vape At Hand

This is quite an important one I haven’t mentioned, but always keep your vape at hand so it’s easy to grab so you don’t have to take your eyes off the road. I keep mine in my cup holder to the left of me when I’m driving so I can easily reach it without being distracted and not looking where I’m going.