Motoring editor fails to read his own paper shock

On Wednesday I reported that Eddie Cunningham, motoring editor at the Irish Independent, wanted drivers who smoke in cars with "others" present to face "massive fines, possibly bans".

So our man in Ireland wrote a letter and submitted it to the Indo. It was published yesterday and reads:

Your motoring editor Eddie Cunningham writes: "I may be wrong, but there appears to [be] a lot of people smoking in cars. More than before, I am inclined to think."

Mr Cunningham says there should be a "blitz of massive fines, possibly bans, for anyone found smoking while others are in the car with them".

We don't condone smoking in cars with children present. It's inconsiderate at best, but the number of people doing it has fallen dramatically. Legislation, accompanied by fines and other penalties, would be a huge and unnecessary over-reaction.

Perhaps I could refer Mr Cunningham and your readers to a study by the UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population, which involved observing 2,230 drivers over three time periods in two Dublin locations.

The study found the prevalence of mobile telephone use was 2.56pc and just 1.39pc for smoking.

This was reported by the Irish Independent on April 10, 2013, under the headline, 'Ban on smoking in cars would have little impact, says study'.

Sadly they censored the punchline:

I'm surprised your motoring editor hasn't read it.

I wonder why.