Smoking To Be Banned In Cars

It won`t be long pal, they are coming to get ya!
 
To be fair I think most caring parents wouldn't smoke with a child in the car anyway. This is to protect the children who's parent are either ignorant to the bad effects smoking in a small space has on children or those that just don't care.
 
if smoking is so bad why don't the powers that be ban it all together? oh yeah i forgot about the billions it generates in tax revenue! well all you smokers out there ( i use an e cig and they are the next thing to be targeted) be prepared to enjoy your smokes standing in a field within a designated area 100 yards from any other living being. nanny state my a**e.
 
Whilst I knew some would it is still difficult to argue against. I mean Kids and smoke they don't mix especially in a confined space. And yeah, I'm aware plenty of children smoke

Steve
 
it will be interesting to see how the police are going to handle this. stop and search? hand over the benson and hedges sir? there are kids in the car and you might light up at any second.........the government banned drivers using a mobile ages ago and i see at least 10 people a day using their phones while driving. it will be impossible to enforce.
 
Wish this was in place when I were a nipper. Mind you my parents would probably have ignored it anyway.
"He gets travel sick", no, I get sick because of the bloody smoke.

Sorry, had a bad start to today, hour and half to cover 6 miles in the car and when you get to the end the perennial birtish favourite, a lane coned off with no b*****d in sight the whole length of the coned off bit. Why couldnt they at least wait til after rush hour to cone off an area to not do anything?
 
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I think its a good move, albeit as has already been said, as with mobile phones, it will be ignored by some, and difficult to enforce.

I grew up in house with a smoker, my father, who was a career Royal Navy man, and of course he would smoke in the car, with my two brothers and I as passengers. I can remember it would sting my eyes.

When I left school in the 1950's, I started smoking as it was pretty much the norm.

Married at 21 to a non-smoker, and still smoking, (how she ever put with me stinking of stale tobacco I don't know) some 2+ years later, when my wife was pregnant with our first child, I decided to 'kick the habit' and gave up. That was 46 years ago.

So, my children were never subjected to travelling in car with cigarette smoke, at least not my car. Without doubt, with the amount of 'concrete' medical evidence on the harmful effects of smoking now available, it must have been beneficial for them.

Smoking IS an addiction, and yes, smokers are in effect 'drug addicts', but it is an addiction that can be broken, not easy, but it can be done, IF you want to.

I am very happy to be able to say, that nobody, in my family smokes. Even my eldest grandson (age 20) has never smoked, and nor do any of his mates. Common sense now prevails, with only 20% of the adult population smoking, and what was a majority habit, is now very much a minority habit.

So, if only 20% of the adult population is now smoking, and assuming the majority of that 20% are responsible and caring enough, not to smoke in confined spaces when children are present, the ban on smoking in cars with children, won't bother them.

Its will only be the hard line "I don't give a stuff" brigade, that will resent and ignore it, but I'm sure they will be a very small minority.

Dave
 
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Against the whole thing to be honest as it will achieve naff all - and I am pretty anti-smoking! I was delighted when they banned smoking in pubs and think its great that we can all work and relax without stinking of smoke and the obvious health implications...

But... how will this be enforced? Sometimes you cant tell if a baby or small child is in the car, if the driver hold sthe cigarette low down it will be hard to spot if they are smoking. Bear in mind that most families dont go that far in the car the majority of the time, but are at home more and the parents can still smoke there. Responsible parents would not smoke with kids anyway, and you have to question the parenting of those that do smoke with kids in the car. What other damages to health are there (poor diet?).

While this proposal has great intentions it is near impossible to carry out effectively, and would still not address kids breathing in smoke at home.
 
As a smoker, I would never smoke in a house or car with non smokers or children. It's my choice that I smoke, not their choice to share my smoke. I realise that yes, I used to smoke in pubs but that is slightly different to an enclosed space like a house
 
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I think smoking in cars should be banned full stop.. children or not... All your attention should be to driving.. not where to flick the ash.. not lighting a fag.. not putting a fag out ...and as I learnt myself.. not jumping about when the end drops in yer lap... driving a car at 70 or 80 miles an hr.. or down the street at school time should have your undivided attention... I know it can be a distraction as I smoked in cars vans lorrys for 20+ years... havent smoked for many years now.. but did do the above.. now I can look back and think.. wrong :(
 
Call me cynical but I suspect this will not see actual legislation for a long time (probably not until smoking is banned altogether).

Does make some headlines that take some of the attention off the woeful government response to the flooding though...
 
Keith W said:
If children are present

Source

So whats next? No smoking allowed in your own house?

Discuss......
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would be good if they banned fags altogether but they just get too much tax from it. I'm pig sick of seeing people waiting at the school gates smoking waiting to pick up their kids. It fills your heart full of warm seeing a mother pushing her pram puffing on a cigarette.
 
Its a law introduced with good intentions, but unfortunately pretty much unenforceable. Let's face it, using a mobile phone in a vehicle is banned, but openly ignored, with only a tiny fraction of offenders being caught.

As someone said earlier, a small child in a car-seat is not really visible to a passing police car.

I have to wonder for what variety of reasons to people start smoking. For me, leaving school at 15, it was to look 'big' I guess, and be like all my workmates. It was "grown up" to smoke :rolleyes:, and of course once you start, you become addicted.

I am so glad I had both the sense, and will power to give up, and now after 46 years of not smoking, my lungs are hopefully clear of all tar and toxins that I introduced to them.

My teeth are not stained, I don't stink like an old ashtray, my health must be better for it, and I must be thousands of pounds better off.

I very recently lost a good mate (a smoker) to lung cancer, another mate (a smoker) almost lost a leg, and my father-in-law (a smoker) died (age 66) from coronary heart disease, due to smoking. :(

Yep, people are free the choose 'self harming' as a habit. :rolleyes:

Dave
 
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DaveS2 said:
I have to wonder for what variety of reasons to people start smoking. For me, leaving school at 15, it was to look 'big' I guess, and be like all my workmates.
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14 here...and my excuse is that I simply didn't know any better.. and unlike today.. there where adverts on telly for fags.. I always remember they where cowboys smoking marlboro... and you got to the shop and buy 5 park drive and a book of matches..
 
KIPAX said:
I think smoking in cars should be banned full stop.. children or not... All your attention should be to driving.. not where to flick the ash.. not lighting a fag.. not putting a fag out ...and as I learnt myself.. not jumping about when the end drops in yer lap... driving a car at 70 or 80 miles an hr.. or down the street at school time should have your undivided attention... I know it can be a distraction as I smoked in cars vans lorrys for 20+ years... havent smoked for many years now.. but did do the above.. now I can look back and think.. wrong :(
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But then you need to ban eating, drinking, chewing gum... as they can all be a distraction... as can having an argument with the wife or shouting at the kids to stop messing around!
 
cambsno said:
But then you need to ban eating, drinking, chewing gum... as they can all be a distraction... as can having an argument with the wife or shouting at the kids to stop messing around!
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I used to ahve a portion of fish and chips on the passenger seat and eat my dinner as I drove... time saving muti tasking at the time... madness now ..i guess its.hmm well dunno really?
 
DaveS2 said:
Yep, people are free the choose 'self harming' as a habit. :rolleyes:
Dave
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And perhaps so they should be free to self harm, free country and all, but when they are forcing other people/kids to come along with them, that's when it aint right.
 
DorsetDude said:
And perhaps so they should be free to self harm, free country and all, but when they are forcing other people/kids to come along with them, that's when it aint right.
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But some people think that smacking a child is wrong full stop, and is harmful to kids, so will that be the next to be banned? What about parents that have an obese child, surely thats harmful too?
 
DorsetDude said:
And perhaps so they should be free to self harm, free country and all, but when they are forcing other people/kids to come along with them, that's when it aint right.
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It could be argued that is ain't right that kids spend many too hours sitting staring at a computer or tv screen, or that so many are driven to school instead of walking, rarely getting any proper fresh air and exersize, that many eat way too much junk food & additives & fat, drink too many sugary drinks.... the list is endless, and all as difficult if not impossible to ultimately police as this one will be.
 
cambsno said:
But then you need to ban eating, drinking, chewing gum... as they can all be a distraction... as can having an argument with the wife or shouting at the kids to stop messing around!
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I thought eating and drinking while driving were already verboten - they are a distraction. Personally, I think gum should be banned anyway but that's more down to most people's disposal method - spit it onto the pavement.

Mum and Dad both used to smoke in the car when we were in it and I'm pretty sure that that will have contributed to my sister and I taking the habit up later in life. Mum and Dad were both killed by the habit and it may well have contributed to my tumour a couple of years ago (but so could many other things). As a biker, I've had butt ends flicked out of drivers' windows (possibly intentionally...) and have had more than one end up sitting on my fuel tank as well as going down my jacket. Fun.

On Yv's points about kids, the answer's easy - ban them! ;)
 
Yv said:
the list is endless, and all as difficult if not impossible to ultimately police as this one will be.
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Absolutely Yvonne, but the fact that it has been made law, with all the publicity and discussion surrounding it, has perhaps raised the awareness of the subject, buts that's all. Whether smokers comply with it, that's a matter for their own conscience, as I don't think the fact that it is now illegal, will have any real impact. Again, the continued use of hand-held mobile phones in vehicles, is a prime example.

The whole smoking issue is a 'two edged sword' for the government, as on one hand they rake in an awful lot of money from tobacco tax, while on the other it costs the health service an awful lot of money in treating smoking related illnesses.

I agree with Yvonne, that not enough is being done to protect the health of children, in terms of diet, lifestyle, and obesity. All a 'ticking time bomb' for the future unfortunately, but its an issue for the parents, not government.

From birth, children learn from their parents, and if the parents adopt an unhealthy lifestyle (obesity, smoking, heavy drinking), the kids are likely to follow, and many do.

Is there an answer, I'm not sure there is, and passing unenforceable laws will do little to change attitudes.

Dave
 
Exactly Dave, there are no easy answers to any of it. I am not even sure that it will serve to 'raise awareness', simply because I cannot believe that anything more than a very tiny, fraction of a percentage of the population wouldn't be aware that smoking around kids presents a possible health risk - and even that can be argued given research done by WHO showing no evidence that it is - but even if you forget the if and buts over health and use Nods point of being led by example, we are still back to it being a negligible number of people that wouldn't already be 'aware'. Yes, even one more person being made aware is good, but can't help but think there must be better ways of doing it.

The fact that this amendment has been passed through without any kind of plans for the method of enforcement, and probable problems, such as open-topped cars, 17yr old smoking drivers, etc, just as the obvious ones - to me just smacks of political point scoring and it is in that kind of environment that the other issues of child health, obesity etc, may also find itself being legislated for with yet more unenforcable and ignored laws.
 
I can see the good in a law like this - making the dangers of smoking more aware and preventing the young and vulnerable from being subjected to it, the intention is good...

But I feel the state are taking too big a say in our lives with this one, most smokers wind the windae down anyway, and with a law like this, its a slipperly slope down the Orwellian path...
 
ST4 said:
But I feel the state are taking too big a say in our lives with this one, most smokers wind the windae down anyway, and with a law like this, its a slipperly slope down the Orwellian path...
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Is that so bad? If everyone followed all the rules think how pleasant this country would be. No countryside full of litter, no cigarette butts flying out of car windows lit catching the countryside on fire, no piles of dog s*** when you're out for a walk, no noisy t*** of a neighbour keeping you awake at 3 am etc, etc, etc. It'd be great.
 
neil_g said:
does having the window down really help though?

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It does get sucked out when the car is moving.

All in all though, smoking in a car with kids is just wrong, regardless of our nanny state's nonsensical about to be law!
 
IMO the law is quite right, passive smoking is known to have serious health risks and to subject a child to anything that places its health at risk needs attention.
 
DorsetDude said:
Is that so bad? If everyone followed all the rules think how pleasant this country would be. No countryside full of litter, no cigarette butts flying out of car windows lit catching the countryside on fire, no piles of dog tummymud when you're out for a walk, no noisy bajingo of a neighbour keeping you awake at 3 am etc, etc, etc. It'd be great.
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Yes it is bad as the people making the rules may not have the same ideas as you. We all break the rules at various points and what about rules that people deem unfair. There is a lot if criticism about Russia's gay stance and the fact it is a capital offence in many countries... So should people there just obey the rules?
 
Mikesphotaes said:
It does get sucked out when the car is moving.

All in all though, smoking in a car with kids is just wrong, regardless of our nanny state's nonsensical about to be law!
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It's not being a nanny state. The government has a duty to protect the vulnerable in society against a known danger. It usually does that by passing laws as in this case, it's not nonsensicle it's just fulfilling it's obligations

Steve
 
cambsno said:
Yes it is bad as the people making the rules may not have the same ideas as you. We all break the rules at various points and what about rules that people deem unfair. There is a lot if criticism about Russia's gay stance and the fact it is a capital offence in many countries... So should people there just obey the rules?
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Simon makes a good point we should all question unjust laws and we have a strong tradition in doing so, remember section 28 was only removed just over 10 years ago. The proposed law on smoking in cars with children is not an unjust one despite some who might think it impinges on their civil liberties.

Steve
 
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If you smoke in your car (or house) with kids around you probably shouldn't be allowed care of your kids.
Most smokers I know find themselves perfectly capable of not smoking in the presence of their children.
 
cambsno said:
But then you need to ban eating, drinking, chewing gum... as they can all be a distraction... as can having an argument with the wife or shouting at the kids to stop messing around!
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you're not allowed to eat or drink when you drive as is and being in an argument would also fall under the careless driving remit I suppose.
 
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