Long Island lawmakers are eyeing another smoking ban.
Legislator Judi Bosworth has proposed a bill which would ban smoking in all motor vehicles in Nassau County with at least one passenger younger than 18.
Bosworth said children are protected in vehicles with car seats, seat belts and airbags but not from secondhand smoke.
“Adults may still smoke in the car poisoning the air our little ones our breathing,” Bosworth said. “Well you know what, it’s now time to remove that last dangerous element and make sure our children are protected from the ill effects of secondhand smoke in cars.”
Legislator Judy Jacobs, a sponsor of the proposal, said it aims to protect vulnerable children.
“A car is such an enclosed place where children are really held captive and they don’t have an escape, they can’t say, ‘I want to leave this car,’” Jacobs said.
Violators would be fined $1,000 under the proposed ban.
Medical experts and community advocates joined sponsors of the legislation Tuesday in urging the county to pass the bill.
“Secondhand smoke, particularly in the enclosed area of a car, results in exposure levels that are between 50 to 110 times the exposure level found in the open environment,” pediatrician Shetal Shah of the Stony Brook School Of Medicine said.
Rockland County and four states – Maine, Louisiana, Arkansas and California — have similar bans.
(Source: 1010WINS)
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7 Responses
First of all, that guy in the picture is clearly too young to drive.
I’m not sure this is a good idea. For one thing, if a cigarette-addicted driver needs a cigarette, his/her smoke cravings may distract his/her focus away from the most important and life-protecting task of the moment, i.e., driving carefully; bad driving is far more life-threatening than cigarette smoke. Secondly, opening some windows will solve a big part of the smoke problem. Thirdly, most of the time, the kids in the car will include the smoker’s children, who are already probably getting heavy doses of smoke at home.
I believe that there is some legal precedent that recognizes that a car is an extension of the home, and this proposed rule is a bit invasive. And keep in mind, I’m a liberal and have no objection to the First Lady’s encouragement for us to eat our vegetables.
…PhotoShop’d. The next step is to ban smoking in homes with minors. Now, I don’t smoke. I hate smoking, but this is going too far.
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#1, some rebuttals:
1) driving with a cigarette in your hand half the time and lighting new ones on the way is dangerous as well;
2) that may be nice in July and August, but are people going to open the windows during a blizzar in January for this?;
3) the house is bigger so the concentration of the smoke is lower (and, by the way, I think smoking in a house with children should be forbidden as well).
What’s the heter to smoke in the first place, wasting money and one’s health?
This ever-increasing encroachment by government on our personal liberties under guise of ” helping us do what they know is good for us” is downright frightening. What’s next, a law banning us from eating red meat or serving high cholesteral foods to our children??
For whatever reason, it is still legal to ingest the many toxins in cigarettes. But the line must be drawn at the smoker, and not extend this permission to affect any other person.
It should be illegal to smoke around any non-smoker of any age unless the other person is also a smoker.
It is absurd and disgusting that anyone should be permitted to spew toxins at another person.
Since it is illegal for any child to smoke, it should also be illegal to smoke in the same room/area/car as a child, regardless of whether or not the windows are open or any other somewhat mitigating factor.
Listen I think you 100% shouldn’t smoke in a car with children but its not the governments business. That’s like them saying u can’t smoke at all.