Smoking with child in car won’t be outlawed in Va.
RICHMOND – State Sen. Ralph Northam’s effort to outlaw smoking in a vehicle with a child present was decisively snuffed out today.
The Norfolk Democrat, a pediatric neurologist, wanted to protect children from the dangers of second-hand smoke, which he said increases the risk of asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory ailments.
His bill (SB975) would have made it a traffic offense, subject to a $100 civil penalty, to smoke in a vehicle with a child under 15 present. He said the idea for the measure came from a third-grader on the Eastern Shore who told him he worried about his health when a parent lit up a cigarette in the car.
The House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee tabled the Senate-passed bill on a 13-4 vote, meaning it won’t advance further. A similar House bill (HB1366) got the same treatment last month.
Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge County, said he was uncomfortable with “regulating a legal activity in a private space,” suggesting the next step might be banning smoking in people’s homes.
-Bill Sizemore, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot
February 8, 2013 - 10:12 AM
It should be. Some parents are simply too irresponsible with the health of their own kids. Thanks to 18 years of having no choice but live with a 2-3 pack a day smoking parent, I’ve got asthma and am prone to chronic lung problems. Much of the exposure was suffered in a car with closed or barely cracked windows. It was so bad I shut off the air ducts into my bedroom, bought a HEPA filtration system, and would stuff blankets under the door to try to create a somewhat healthy environment for myself when I was at home.
If smoking were banned in a home where kids were present, I wouldn’t rightly mind. It’s a filthy, health-destroying habit that impacts more than just the person who lights up…who all too often just don’t care enough about those around them to act responsibly.
Thats too bad, I think its a good idea to ban smoking with kids in the car – they don’t have any choice if someone lights up.
While I think smoking is a bad habit and smoking with your child in the car is needlessly unhealthy for both parties, especially the child, I think trying to pass a law on banning smoking with a child in the car is nonsense for a couple of reasons.
1) Banning a legal substance that doesn’t impair your driving in a vehicle you own, private property, is ludicrous.
2)Drinking while driving is banned, yet many do it regardless and many would still smoke and drive, too.
This is a shame that this bill didn’t make it further and end up getting voted on by the full legislature. Just a shame. I take it that our commonwealth doesn’t really give a darn about the health of minors. They are, after all, the future of the state, our country, and our planet. So, hey, if you want to decrease the life span of our future voters and future tax base, go right ahead!! Our state is so backwards.
Thank you Sen. Northam for your dedicated efforts and hopefully it’ll be a different story on this issue in 2014.
If they smoke in the car they are probably smoking at home…..STOP the assault on personal liberty.
What???? gEH….that’s absurd. Keep the government out of your bedroom as well as your car. They should really watch out for minors by making video games illegal and forcing them to play outside…..I guess letting kids spend their time inside is not “giving a darn.”