A Burning Cigarette on a Moving Bus: An Overlooked Threat to Road Safety

When we talk about road safety in Bangladesh, the conversation usually revolves around familiar concerns: unsafe roads, unfit vehicles, reckless driving, unlicensed drivers and excessive speed.

These are undoubtedly major risks. But there is another, less visible form of dangerous behavior that deserves far greater attention-smoking while driving.

A cigarette in the hand of a driver may appear to be nothing more than a personal habit.

Behind the steering wheel of a moving bus or truck, however, it becomes a potential source of distraction.

Finding a cigarette, reaching for a lighter, lighting it, handling the cigarette, shaking off ash and dealing with a dropped or burning cigarette can all compete with the driver’s primary responsibility: maintaining continuous control and attention on the road.Research has demonstrated just how significant this distraction can be.

A study published in Annali di Igiene by Giacomo Mangiaracina and Letizia Palumbo video-recorded 10 smokers while they were driving and found an average distraction time of approximately 12 seconds.

At 50 km/h, that corresponds to roughly 160 metres of travel. In other words, a vehicle can travel the length of more than a football field while the driver’s attention is being diverted by the act of smoking.

The problem is not merely theoretical. Evidence from Bangladesh is particularly concerning. A study of 424 bus and truck drivers in Dhaka found that 75.9% of respondents were tobacco users and 57.9% reported smoking while driving.

The study also found a statistically significant association between smoking while driving and involvement in road traffic accidents, with an odds ratio of 2.087 (p=0.003).

This finding should not be interpreted to mean that smoking alone causes every crash.

Road crashes are complex events involving multiple factors, including speed, fatigue, road conditions, vehicle condition, driver experience and other forms of risky behaviour.

Nevertheless, the evidence is strong enough to treat smoking while driving as a road-safety risk that should no longer be ignored.
There is also a physiological dimension.

Tobacco smoke contains carbon monoxide, which reduces the blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity, while the act of smoking introduces additional visual and manual demands into the driving task.

Reviews of the evidence have identified both physiological effects and the physical distraction associated with handling cigarettes and smoking paraphernalia as plausible mechanisms linking smoking with crash risk.

The situation becomes even more serious in commercial passenger transport. A professional bus or truck driver is responsible not only for his or her own life, but for the lives of dozens of passengers and other road users.

A momentary distraction that might be relatively minor for a stationary smoker can become catastrophic when it occurs behind the wheel of a large, moving vehicle.

Bangladesh already has a legal basis for keeping public transport smoke-free.

Yet the road-safety dimension of smoking while driving deserves stronger policy attention. Enforcement should not depend solely on occasional mobile-court operations.

The issue needs to be incorporated into a broader road-safety framework that recognises driver distraction as a serious behavioural risk.

Several measures deserve consideration
First, policymakers should examine whether the existing road-transport legal framework adequately addresses smoking by drivers while a vehicle is in motion.

If the law does not clearly identify the behaviour and provide an effective enforcement mechanism, an appropriate legal provision should be considered.

Second, professional driver training should explicitly address smoking and other forms of distraction.

Driver licensing and refresher training should emphasise that operating a commercial vehicle requires uninterrupted attention.

Third, transport operators should be encouragedor where appropriate, required-to maintain smoke-free driver cabins.

In-vehicle monitoring technologies may also be considered as part of broader driver-safety programmes, provided that their use respects applicable privacy and labour protections.

Fourth, driver welfare must be part of the solution. Long working hours, inadequate rest and occupational stress can contribute to unhealthy coping behaviours.

Improving working conditions, ensuring adequate rest and providing access to tobacco-cessation support would be more sustainable than relying exclusively on punishment.

Finally, passengers have a role to play. A passenger who sees a driver smoking should be able to raise the concern safely through the transport operator or an appropriate complaint mechanism.

A culture of accountability can help make smoke-free public transport a practical reality rather than merely a legal requirement.

The central message is simple
A cigarette behind the steering wheel is not merely a private choice when a vehicle is moving.

It is a behaviour that can divert a driver’s eyes, hands and attention from the road at precisely the moment when continuous concentration is essential.

Bangladesh has made considerable efforts to improve road safety, but progress will remain incomplete if less visible behavioural risks are overlooked. Smoking while driving should therefore be treated not simply as a tobacco-control issue, but as a road-safety concern.

A steering wheel demands both hands, clear attention and sound judgement. A burning cigarette has no place between them.

(The writer: Public Health and Environmental Activist; Email:  hasibul4@gmail.com)