Should smoking in cars carrying minor children be outlawed?

[welshTerrier2]

i'm not a smoker ... when i see adults smoking in a car that's carrying children as passengers, i often ask myself how they can do that to their own kids (or anyone else's kids either) ...

but that doesn't necessarily mean a law should be made outlawing the practice ... on one hand is the libertarian argument that it shouldn't be the government's decision; on the other side is the view that kids deserve protection from abusive or ignorant parents ...

so, how do you feel about passing a law banning smoking in cars that are carrying minor children?

please provide some discussion so the poll doesn't just disappear ... thanks ... if you support the ban in cars, would you extend it to private residences? if you don't support the ban, assuming you accept the argument that second-hand smoke is dangerous, please discuss why you think parents should have the right to harm their own kids without government interference.

[Little Star]

1. Education not laws! n/t

[givemebackmycountry]

2. You want to ban something?

Cell phones.
Cell phones and eating burgers.
Cell phones and eating burgers and smoking.
Cell phones and eating burgers and smoking and drinking coffee or 3 gallon containers of Mountain Dew all at the same time.

Other than that, I'm cool...

[pansypoo53219]

22. you forgot

teevee.

can i eat fries though?

[RB TexLa]

44. I work outside sales

I eat, drink, smoke and use the cell phone all day while driving and have never caused an accident. I have had others nearly hit me and been able to move to prevent being a victim of an accident without missing any of my conversation.


I do not drive after drinking and I actually do my best to avoid driving if I am in any way ill.

[mmonk]

3. as a smoker, I would not have any problem with that.

What I have a problem with is when people want to ban smokers from smoking on their own property or outside. Those that argue for smoking bans outside or on their own property don't really have legitimate arguments in those cases

[tx_dem41]

10. Your car is your own property.

If you still agree with that ban after considering that fact, then logically you would not have a problem with a ban in your house if you have kids?

[mmonk]

35. I believe a car to be a small enclosed area.

As far as the house goes, I don't smoke in mine (I do in my screened porch and garage) but that would delve into property rights (as originally defined).

[helderheid]

38. Yea, let's throw out seat belt laws too while we're at it.

:eyes:

[tx_dem41]

40. That wasn't my logic...I was showing

mmonk where I thought his logic was flawed, IMO.

Do you think the Government should pass laws regulating what kind of food a family should provide for the kids? Obesity is the most direct cause of later medical problems in today's children. It would seem if you are for this law (assuming you are), ethically and logically you would have to be for my proposed law.

[mmonk]

45. My position was based on my feeling that kids come first

and can't always control the environment around them. They can't escape the smoke unless they can ride with the windows down. I understand your position about overly intrusive laws though.

[tx_dem41]

47. Thanks...I didn't mean to be attacking your position in my response

to the other poster. I understand what you are saying as well.

[helderheid]

48. I think there should be laws in place for those providing America with

food. We're being poisoned.

[Little Star]

4. oh yeah Do you see a law

against parents, etc. getting arrested for feeding junk food to children? The less laws for all of us is better.

[ET Awful]

5. As an ex-smoker that really hates smoke, I can't say there should be

a law against it. Now if they could legislate some kind of device that directed the smoke away from the kid and make it a requirement, I'd be fine with that. (Kind of like you can't outlaw cars, but you CAN require catalytic converters and other polution reduction devices).

[Walt Starr]

6. Look t it this way, smoking pot around kids would be considered child abus

so how is smoking tobacco around kids any different?

[tx_dem41]

7. Should the government regulate what diet you provide for your children?

Just asking.

[sepia_steel]

8. Even when I smoked

I was appalled by people who smoked in their house and in their cars with their kids standing right there. I consider it abuse. They had that static-y mucous noise in their lungs when they breathed.

:cry:

[helderheid]

39. same here. I'm an ex-smoker of almost 6 years but when I smoked, I

smoked outside and wouldn't consider smoking around a child. I quit the day I found out I was pregnant with my first child. My husband still smokes ( :( ) but only outside and never in the car with our kids.

[Horse with no Name]

9. As a child of two smokers who chainsmoked Pall Mall's

Now that is sucking some tar...but I digress...
They used to smoke in the car and it was horrible.
As an adult I have asthma and chronic bronchitis and have never touched a (tobacco) cigarette. My dad died at age 45 of lung cancer.
The health risks are enormous, especially in a such a small place.
However...I don't think breathing our atmosphere and pollution is any better or any worse than that and that isn't being controlled either.:shrug:
I think parents should use the literature and do best by their kids...which should mean no smoking in their presence.
However, I don't think it should be outlawed. It would be impossible to enforce and could be used indiscriminately.

[Why Syzygy]

11. No law. Just common sense

and maybe some people need to be educated that it isn't a good idea to smoke around children.

[seabeyond]

12. not only outlawed, but if a parent smokes anywhere in site of child

the parent should have children taken away and given to the state, to find a nice healthy non smoking home for said child.

[Seeker30]

25. I hope you're joking

if not then I'm all for taking your kids and giving them to the state everytime you give them McDonalds.

[400Years]

29. We should ban pollution first

let's take your car away and then your ciggarettes.

[elehhhhna]

13. Let's get the goddamed DRUNK DRIVERS off the roads, first.

[seabeyond]

14. if you are that pissed about the drunk drivers go after those with cell

phones. same distractability, same slow reaction time. same amount of accidents. the thing, most drunk out at 2. ya ya ya i know not all. most cell users, during the day.

[elehhhhna]

33. WHO ARE THOSE WOMEN TALKIN TO?

WHO? All day long, everywhere they go--and I watch them--on their cell phones--they are NEVER listening! ALWAYS talking. What can they possibly have to say all day long?!!

[seabeyond]

34. clearing throat..... you sexist...... bah hahahaah

i see men talking on those phones too. wink. i tell hubby he talks on a phone more than any girl i know, lol lol.

[porphyrian]

15. Only if we also outlaw keeping children in cars that are in traffic.

In fact, we need a law banning children in cars at all, since the incident of death due to automobile accidents are so high. We should also ban children from eating candy and fast food, because we know that it causes obesity. It would probably be a good idea to just make having children illegal, since the world is such a dangerous place, and we know that they'll die from it. Actually, we should charge anyone who has children with conspiracy to murder, since they are knowingly bringing children into a situation that they know those children will die from.

[seabeyond]

16. just make having children illegal,

the really sad thing, you make total sense to me. k. and if it isnt a chemical, livestyle, manmade product that takes them down, we damn well know god will do it with hurricanes and flu and sin

[porphyrian]

23. That's why so many people go along with creating more bans.

The arguments for bans aren't without merit, some are damn good, but where does it end? At some point, we have to accept that the government is not the one who's most qualified to control individual behavior. In fact, laws don't control behavior at all - they simply allow for a recipe of punishment that can be dealt to any offender. Why does everyone turn first to punishment rather than education, especially when punishment has been proven to be an ineffective deterrent, as with the death penalty?

[Touchdown]

17. I'm with Bill Maher on this.

Everything is about the children. Protect the children. Take care of the children. Support the children. Don't do anything adult, because of the children. What will I tell my children?

Fuck that! I didn't tell you to have your precious snot factories, and it's not my responsibility to "behave" around them. The world is harsh. They need to learn how to live in it sooner or later.

I was verbally abused for saying "fuck" in front of a stranger and her child. I didn't even know they were there. They are not more important than me.

[justiceischeap]

18. As a smoker it drives me nuts seeing people smoking around kids

My problem with this is not just possible health implications but also learned behaviour. I learned to smoke from my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. My aunts and uncles who didn't smoke–all their kids are non-smokers.

Of course I've been told I'm one of the most considerate smoker's my non-smoking friends know. I go far away from everyone when I smoke in public.

:shrug:

[seabeyond]

19. and hide. like a criminal. ah what are you teaching your children

your shame. you have to hide it. wow. hm. and if you came out into the lite, would you reALLY BE THAT evil. i wonder

[justiceischeap]

20. Nope not hiding, just being polite. I hate being a smoker

so why make non-smokers suffer the stink?

[400Years]

30. well then stop smoking

[mondo joe]

43. Sounds like consideration, not "hiding".

Like leaving the room to fart or pee.

[pansypoo53219]

21. for 'darwinism' to work

you have to eliminate the stupid. i am all for warning labels to be removed as well.
fucking lawyers.

[seabeyond]

24. so now we are all the way down to saying a smoker is a useless

human? of no value? then i guess we could say that those that live in an urban environment or under electrical out lines or ... for that matter living in calif with earthquakes and mudslide or no with hurricanes, deserve what they get. just darwinism. at its finest. ok. i could go with that. whats in your closet.

[obreaslan]

26. Yes, and we should wrap all children in bubble wrap as well...

Yes, and we should wrap all children in bubble wrap as well, just in case they ever bump into anything. We should coat the world in foam rubber, in case a child ever falls down. Kids should wear helmets, knee and elbow pads, neck braces and mouth guards and ride in car seats until they are 21 years old. Bicycles, skateboards, roller skates and any other item that has wheels and moves laterally at speeds greater than 1 mile per hour should all be banned. All TV shows should be diluted to the point that nothing but the image of a puffy cloud floating across the screen will be shown because this is the one thing that won't offend anyone sensibilities regarding race, economic stature, sex, religion or hair color. And all responsibility for the welfare of a child should be placed in the hands of the government relieving the parents of any responsibility in making decisions about the health and safety of their own children.

[readmoreoften]

27. My dad smokes and my lungs are pink as a blushing virgin.

I would have been horrified as a child if my father was ticketed for smoking in my presence. How traumatic! This second-hand smoke nonsense is absurd. I'm more concerned about toxic waste and air pollution than cigarette smoke.

[zanne]

28. I'm so glad I don't have kids...

I'd be in prison by now.

[bbgrunt]

31. Oh, for Christ's sake, stop already with all this hysterical nazism.

If all the animus about smoking was put into getting rid of the evil crime family running this country, we would all live a lot longer, healthier lives.

Don't you understand what a diversion this whole topic is? It is just another way to divide the country between those who want to smoke and those who want to control everything around them!!!!

[Selatius]

32. People should be EDUCATED to stop doing that with minors

The problem is thoughtlessness and ignorance on the matter. Even if you criminalize the behavior, you're still going to have people who do it. Rather than criminalizing the problem and making the police go after people guilty of smoking in front of kids instead of going after murderers and rapists, the solution, in my view, seems to be to equip the people through education to deal with the problem directly rather than try and babysit them by doing it for them. If there was a concerted effort to educate people, I believe things wouldn't be so damn bad in the world in general.

[Nabia2004]

36. both parents smoked, long car trips sucked

It become bearable in cars with AC.

[bleedingheart]

37. I spent the first 10 years of my life in hospitals due to my dad's smoking

missed loads of school in Kindergarten, First, Second...etc
I spent many a night in the hospital under an oxygen tent, because I couldn't breath.

All because no doctor at the time would tell my parents that my father's chain smoking was slowly killing me.

I can vividly recall one of the days I watched my father brace himself against a wall in the hall way...as he coughed and coughed...struggling to clear his airways... after he was done coughing my mother started wiping the wall down....and I saw the blood smear on that wall...

Then the smoking killed my father...when I was 10.

He died in January of 1980 and after that I didn't have to go to the hospital anymore...

I miss him to this day.

[gulliver]

41. Skewed wording in the poll.

The smoker is the one intruding, not the government. Most smokers know that. The question then becomes whether we care enough about smokers intruding on their kid's clean air to do anything about it. I think smokers do a fairly good job of policing themselves, so I don't see a need for a law.

If there were significant statistics showing that there is harm being done to kids, that would be different. We don't prevent parents from feeding their kids unhealthy diets. We don't prevent parents from teaching their kids foolish ideas (leaving Republicanism to flourish into future generations). So we can draw the same line when it comes to smoking.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

42. Ban kids in cars. They're a dangerous distraction.

Not to mention their well known proclivity to cause insanity in parents.

[hopein08]

46. Speaking as the product of two parents who smoked through my childhood...

I picked "they still smoke at home, it won't make a difference."

Here's why:

1. At least in a car it's more likely that a window will be open and getting rid of the smoke as opposed to a house which (at least in cold climates) will be closed up for a good part of the year.

2. I heard all of the countless lectures at elementary school about the dangers of secondhand smoke and came home and dutifully reported them to my parents...who continued to smoke.

3. The only way a complete or partial ban would ever be supported by me is if the government was also willing to pay people who currently smoke to take the classes, use the patch/gum/etc.

You don't know how much I wanted my parents to quit. Especially after I figured out how much money is spent on cigarettes. I think they both tried a few times, maybe my dad more honestly than my mom. My dad did eventually quit (he smoked a pipe) when he broke a bone and the doctor told him that smoking weakens the ability of your bones to heal.

But my parents were pretty good, once I got old enough to bug them with all the horror stories I heard at school, about not smoking in the car, the kitchen or a super lot when I was around.

Just my thoughts.

[Zhade]

49. Kids don't have a choice, so why should they be exposed to the harm?

I would support it the way I would support children not being forced to drink alcohol. They don't get a say when it comes to riding in the car, so...yeah, I support a ban.

Now, if the kids aren't around, do whatever you want.