08/11/2026
No smoking at gas pumps makes a lot of precautionary and factual sense. For the same reason the sign reads “stop engine,” there needs to be a stronger mention of no using cell phones. For instance, re-starting a car engine at the pump involves sparking the plug to ignite the engine, whereas, leaving the vehicle running poses less atmospheric threat, as an intake only combustion from tank to engine. Obviously, electricity whether by static or by battery can cause a combustion with volatile compounds like gasoline. Sparking a plug to ignite the engine in that vicinity is more able to cause combustion to lingering gasoline fumes but this is considered routine after having shut off the engine. If we are to reference the air pressure difference in simply having the gas tank un-capped as being a cause for the engine to combust gas already in the tank, we should know as routine information, as drivers with licenses, that at any time in any location; running the engine with the gas cap off is risking engine explosion. This would also clearly emphasize that any combustion for any reason near a gas pump is an extra liability at large.
