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Banning smoking in cars to protect children

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8583551.stm

It's all over the news, girls, what do you think?
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Replies

  • Personaly i can't stand smoking and thing this is a brilliant idea. I know not everybody would agree though. Very touchy subject I think!!
    Just my opinion
    xx
  • About time!!

    I know it would be difficult to enforce but people shouldn't be allowed to smoke in homes with children either.

    I just cannot understand parents who smoke around their children - it's so selfish.

    Love NN xxx
  • Please dont jump on me as, like many others, I hate smoking. However, this country is again suggesting to do something that WILL NOT WORK!

    By banning all these things we are making them so so attractive to people. It would be a nightmare to police and wont stop people doing it, it will just make them concentrate on whos watching while they are smoking in their car, and therefore taking EVEN less notice of the road.

    I think its disgusting when I see people smoking in their cars with children as its such a small space and can make children so so poorly but this isnt the way to stop it.

    Sorry if ive offended...just my view on it.
  • I obviously have an issue with smoking around children which I just think is disgusting but I don't think they should ban smoking and driving for this reason, they should ban it because it's flipping dangerous. Smoking and driving means you only have 1 hand to control the car, I've wondered for so long how this is any different really from using a mobile phone whilst driving. Bring on the ban I say!
  • In theory its a good idea to ban people smoking around children although it should be common sense! However they are calling for a blanket ban in all cars whether children in there or not, I dont agree with that. As an ex-smoker I think that this is one step too far, next they will be telling us what we can and cant do in our own homes, its just a little too big brother for me. Sorry xxx
  • ban smoking outright i'd say! more possible to police than banning it in peoples homes. It might reduce NHS costs and protect innocent children!
  • I agree with gemmiebaby. I also hate smoking, my dh does but is not allowed to in house or in car. But trying to do this will simply not work. There is just no way of completely shielding children from it altogether unless it is a complete ban which also wouldn't work. Smoking is like drinking the more you try to stop it/hide it from children the more they want to do it. I think more money should be spent on educating people of risk/helping people to stop/making it harder to buy cigarettes which you can buy from just about anywhere.
    People need to see just how bad it is for their kids - I agree it is disgusting and makes children unnecessarily ill but more thought needs to be put into prevention rather than banning.
    Don't mean to offend
  • I respest your point alfie and oskars mummy but i think that everyone knows the risks of smoking and educating people isn't making any difference.
    My mum works in a school and has said that since the legal age for smoking was raised to 18 there are less younger kids smoking, probably because it is now more difficult for them to get hold of cigarettes.
    I think it's a good move by the government to ban smoking in cars, it's so unfair on anyone in the back not just kids who have no choice whether they are smothered by smoke as a passenger. And then there is also the risk of people not paying enough attention to the roads because they have one hand doing something else and because their vision will be impaired by clouds of smoke.
    I think it would be totally impractical to ban smoking outright - the government needs the tax money!! And the costs to the NHS would not reduce for several decades! It would also increase crime so massively due to illegal trafficing. I mean i would love to live in a country where there was no smoke but i know that it's just not going to happen.
  • Good idea in theory but will be almost impossible to enforce!
    I'm a social smoker (disgusting I know, I managed to quit for a year until T was 3 months old). I never smoke in the house, or in the car, even if the baby isn't with me.
    It disgusts me to see people smoking with children in the car and I just don't understand how people can do it knowing of the risks.

    It is my choice to smoke, not my daughters, and I only smoke when I am out without her (which isn't often lol)

    if they manage to pull this one off then I am all for it, however, I think the money that would have to be spent on extra policing etc. would be better spent on educating parent of the cold hard facts, it was on GMTV this morning that 40 infant deaths a year are caused by passive smoking, what responsible parent would want to take that risk?

  • have tried to reply to this twice now and BE has eaten it - stupid site!

    The gist, after writing it all out twice and it disappearing I cant be bothered to write it again - is

    1984 anyone?
    Banning it in your own homes is impossible and a horrendous idea. We'll soon be told what to do and think if this carries on.

    Banning it in cars it impossible to police - they cant even police mobile phone use properly, there aren't enough police and there are too many laws.

    smoking around kids IS disgusting though, and if I was the mum of my nextdoor neighbours grandchild then she would not be seeing her grandchild ever as she chain smokes around her. (I quit smoking when i got pregnant with Ollie)

    But where do you draw the line?
    Banning smoking in parks?
    what about the mother (in a diff post on here) who was smoking whilst feeding her baby?

    you cannot just ban smoking (aside from the fact that it has been proven that the taxes raised from smoking pays for *more* than just smoking related diseases) - you cannot take away people's right to do something they want to because you/we chose to have children- the guy who is 60 with no kids who only ever smokes in his own home hasn't done anything wrong so why should he be penalised? People who didnt/dont have children but *do* respect them and do not smoke around them, but smoke in the privacy of their own environment - why should they be penalised?

    Another badly thought out law, but likely to be pushed through at great cost to the taxpayer even though it will be impossible to police.

    I dont mean any offence to anyone with my response - I am aware Im not the best at tact or brilliant with words..

    xxx
  • I agree with those who say it will be impossible to enforce, if it every brought into law (as far as I can make out, it is a recommendation, not a bill or even likely to be).

    And totally banning smoking won't work either. Not only does it bring in too much money in taxes, but prohibition never works. Look at the endless war on drugs, or the creation of an entire black economy around booze in the US in the 1920s.

    It will be interesting to see if the next generation (those who are now 10-15) smoke as much as the current one. Education does work but it takes time to trickle down the ages.
  • THG - Important point that I was just going to write. Education DOES work - there are far fewer people smoking now than 30years ago, and, as another example, most people that wear seatbelts these days dont do it because they might get caught, but because they are educated of the risks. 30 years ago, it was unusual to see someone wear a seatbelt (im sure cars havent had them for that long??)
  • Phew! Sorry girls, I really wanted to start this post, but then lo woke up so I had to cut it short! It's nice to sit down and read all these posts. Excellent opinions so far, and lovely polite ladies!

    I think I find it a bit horrendous to hear how many children's deaths and ill health can be contributed to smoking. I don't want to drag up the old "smoking while pregnant outside Sainsbury's" thread from Pregnancy, because I appreciate how hard it is to quite smoking. However, surely smoking near your child must scream danger to a mother? When you think about how teeny those little lungs are, and how their health and future is down to you from day 1, surely that's enough to make you stop?

    I can see why these medical experts have recommended banning smoking in cars, but it's a bit creepy isn't it... your own privately-owned vehicle is a bit like an extention of your home, so it strikes me as being further down the slippery slope into a nanny state.

    My gut reaction as a mum is - protect children at all costs. My brain, however, has to stick up for people's rights to exist as they want to. There are so many things parents do that seriously contribute their child's health - having has Wife Swap USA on while doing the housework I can safely say there's at least one family out their who feel their (massively obese) children should eat what they like and never do anything they don't want to, should feeding your children become the government's business to the extent that they can ban certain foods for under 18s? It's a bit of a worry.

    Nevertheless, I do agree that smoking while driving is a separate issue. It's just as dangerous as talking on a mobile phone, but look at how well that's policed! I definitely think laws should be in place to stop the driver doing it. It's unsafe not just for the person driving and smoking, but for anyone they might swerve into while searching for their lighter/accidentally knocking the cherry from their fag onto their lap/trying to get the ash to fly out the window and not in their face.
  • Why would it be impossible to enforce?

    I think it is a brill idea. Yes there are always people that will get away with it but it would be easy to police. The police have the power of discretion. People with kids in the car wont have the luxary of discretion.

    Mobile phones are policed well.....there are enough police to do it, they dont stop every car due to a person on a mobile, if a call comes in that is more important they would go to that.

    Rather have the law than not.

  • I think its a good idea to ban it. I smoked up until I found out I was pregnant with Dylan and it angers me so much when I was going to hospital for appointments that there were pregnant women standing outside the maternity ward puffing away.

    I got on a bus this morning to go to a baby group and the bus driver was smoking! I couldn't believe it and I was furious but even more so with myself for not saying anything to him but he looked really rough and not the sort of person you'd want to mess with!

    Jo
  • Why would it be impossible to enforce?

    I think it is a brill idea. Yes there are always people that will get away with it but it would be easy to police. The police have the power of discretion. People with kids in the car wont have the luxary of discretion.

    Mobile phones are policed well.....there are enough police to do it, they dont stop every car due to a person on a mobile, if a call comes in that is more important they would go to that.

    Rather have the law than not.



    in my experience in my area we do not have enough police to enforce things like this - they struggle to enforce the drink driving laws let alone the mobile driving laws.

    xx
  • Can I just add a bit of a different perspective?

    My mum has always smoked and still does although she has cut down and went from cigarettes to cigars. But she smoked a pack of cigarettes a day, every day from as long as I can remember. I hated the smell, it made me feel sick, strange. Than my dad started to socially smoke with my mum and than my brother started to smoke everything he could get his hands on when I was about 13. I have been living in smoke my whole childhood and if she comes over she still smokes. (although nowadays with Michael she does it outside, doesn't mean we don't smell any smoke inside cause it travels with her clothing)

    I wish there was someone who could have stopped my mum. I hated the smell, but when I mention that I should not complain cause I have been living with it for years.

    Unfortunately there is no way of enforcing this. What is next? People not allowed to smoke in their home? How are you gonna enforce it?
  • Yes I admit it is difficult to enforce and you'll not catch everyone but I don't think that is reason enough for not legislating against it. As I said before I think it's something that you can only really enforce on the driver of the vehicle and needs to be for road safety reasons (as it is with mobiles). I know it won't stop everyone but if you knew that by smoking when driving you risked a ??100 fine and 3 points on your license I do think it would act as a deterrent.

    As for stopping people smoking in their own homes etc- a step too far I think and yes impossible to enforce but perhaps education does gradually make an impact on this. I don't smoke but those adverts with the smoke coming out of the kids mouths and others like that really freak me out and i imagine they do have a similar effect on most smokers. If it makes them think twice about smoking around children then surely it's a good thing?
  • Of course it can be enforced, any law could be. It doesnt mean it will stop it completely. All it means is the police have the power if they need it.

    Nothing illegal is fully enforced there are always things that the police dont see/catch.

    However if it is there it might make people think twice about doing and even if it doesnt stop it, it might reduce the amount it happens.

    Councils now have roaming CCTV cameras, these could be used to catch and fine - all you need is the number plate.

    Even in the busiest of areas the police could enforce it. Enforcing doesnt mean actively targeting but using the power if it is needed. Also that is exactly what PCSO's were brought in for to enforce exactly these types of things.

  • "It might reduce NHS costs"

    while this is true, an awful lot of money is put into the system by the tax that smokers pay on cigarettes...aparantly it works out taht an average pack of 20 costs 40p the other ??5 is all in taxes...so whiile it wld save the hs money, they wld lose money as it wldn't be coming in, so that wld have to be recouped elsewhere...not saying i agree with smoking just an outright ban wld never help the country financially, and wld be impossible to enforce as it's legal the rest of europe so u wld just end up with lots of smuggling and black market, that wld then in turn lmead to more border checks being needed and thus more money spent there.

    personally i think while a ban n smoking in a car is a fantastic thing, i can't see how it wld be enforceable, at the end of the day it is an addiction, and unless they want to give itn up peopel will find a way of carrying on...a know its not a good comparison but heroin, coke etc are all illegal, people still do them, jsut because somehting is banned or illegal doesn't mean it stops people doing it,
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