A new law: scope and implications

Smoke Free Cars

A new law

Banning cigarette smoking in a car when driving with a child

Laws limiting the areas in which people can smoke have become increasingly popular. In many major cities, smoking is now prohibited in restaurants, bars, and other enclosed areas. The reason for this is twofold: first it has become increasingly obvious that second-hand smoke proposes a serious threat to the health of nonsmokers. The argument that such laws interfere with smokers' personal freedoms is outweighed by the concerns that innocent bystanders will be subjected to carcinogens. Secondly, the state has a compelling interest in discouraging smoking, given the higher healthcare costs smokers incur. The secondary, acknowledged need to discourage cigarette smoking and to promote health is why cigarette taxes are so uniformly high across the land.

However, although smoking has been increasingly limited by law, and also by rules at many private companies which prohibit smoking indoors (as can be seen with the ubiquity of persons standing outside on a 'smoke break' on so many city streets), there is one place that is very small, with poor air circulation, where people can smoke with impunity and without concern about the health of the other persons present. That is within the car.

Of course, it could be argued that it is the smoker's choice to subject him or herself to uncirculated air within a car, and it is also the choice of adult, non-smoking passengers to remain there. This was not the case with restaurant workers, bartenders, and coworkers (which is one of the justifications of legislation prohibiting smoking in those areas) who were forced to work in smoke-filled environments. But the children of smokers riding in cars do not have a choice. That is why the new, proposed law is to prohibit smoking in cars when children are present.

This law is far from without precedent. In fact, "since 2006, several communities, four states, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have enacted laws to prevent smoking in cars when children are present" (Smoke free cars, 2013, no-smoke.org). Even with the window open, the air circulation is insufficient to avoid exposing to passengers to smoke in the car. Additionally, the "gaseous and particulate components of tobacco smoke absorb into the upholstery and other surfaces inside a car…exposing passengers to toxins long after anyone actually smoked in the car" (Smoke free cars, 2013, no-smoke.org).