Smoking in cars with children

[mumof2222222222222222boys]

I have just seen that there is a proposal that it should be banned (as it is in some countries) given the concentration of toxins in a limited space.

What do you think?

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8079357.stm

I don't smoke and never have. Personally think it is a free country and in their own space people should be allowed to do what they want. I did hear on the radio this morning about thelevels of toxins and was quite horrified by it. I would never let my sister smoke around dd anyway (not that she would ever ask anyway). Wonder if it could be monitored anyway, i see loads of people on their mobile while driving and think the police have enough to do. interesting topic though!

Of course it should be banned, but policing it would be unworkable...
Got to trust to the people in the car having children's best interests at heart I suppose.

Would it be more unworkable than banning mobiles / enforcing the wearing of seatbelts?

I'm in favour of it based on health implications for fellow passengers and also the safety side of concentration lapsing while lighting up and holding a cigarette while driving (although as I'm a non-smoker I maybe talking out of my rear end on this one )

Hope they don't do away with the cigarette lighters in cars though - long journeys would be hell without the DVD player .

So what about drivers who aren't carrying passengers?

Tbh, I wish the government and public health lot would just be honest and say we want to ban smoking, rather than this piecemeal 'ooh, we are just concerned about this one thing... ooh, and there's something else we forgot about... ooh, and it's not an attack on smokers, we are just worried about everyone else...' dishonest approach.

There are an awful lot of things people do that aren't good for other people, that's one of the things about living in a society as opposed to on your own desert island. Levels of particulates - a known cause of disease and premature death - near to some main roads are horrifying. Only found out after I was on maternity leave that that includes the road my office was on in London.

Sorry, point is, if we are really concerned about health, we should ban cars, not piddle about with whether the driver has a fag.

I am a smoker, never in the house, never near the kids, and never ever in car (even if kids are not in the car).. if I want a fag while driving I stop the car at a reststop and have one outside the car.

It should definitely be banned in cars containing children. I saw a woman being interviewed about it who said it's an invasion of rights but what about the children's rights. I think the best way to really change it though is just make people very aware of the dangers and make it socially unacceptable.

I think it should be an actual offence to smoke while pregnant too though so maybe I'm more hardline than the government over this issue. I also hate it when a toddler turns up at playgroup and stinks of fags - it seems really sad to me.

And Edam - totally agree with you about the car pollution too but I guess that's a different issue.

I heard on the radio today they wanted to ban smoking in a car with children in it as its 20 times more dangerous then passive smoking in pubs/workplaces. I can't believe smokers can't smoke in a smoking room of a pub/club but people can smoke in a small car with children in . I saw it today, mum puffing away in the drivers seat with a little one of around 13/14 months asleep in back in car seat! some people need the nanny state to tell them what's dangerous!

Yes it's not right to smoke in a confined space with a child. They don't really have a say in the matter either. But at the end of the day, people have free will and will do what they want to do. Banning it will be in-effective. Any that are caught will be a very small percentage of those that will carry on and light up in the car regardless. Police can't be everywhere all the time. It won't work.

I believe a democracy should be just that and not a dictatership under the illusion it's a democracy - which this country does seem to be at times.

The only real solution is to stop manufacturing fags and cigars and ban smoking altogether.

Yes it should be banned don't know how they would police it though.

I grew up with a Mum who smoked and a very heavy chain smoking Dad, who would put one out and immediately light another, can you imagine car journeys with those two puffing away in the front, me and my brother used to hang out the window until we were told to wind it up as it was drafty.

Recently my Dad gave DD1 and I a lift and wanted to smoke in the car and was miffed when I wouldn't allow him too, he said I'll wind the window down, yes winding the window down an inch makes all the difference and also the ask used to blow back in the wondow over the rear passenger so you would be covered in smoke and fag ash nice. Feel so so sorry when I see parents smoking in cars now.

I was nearly sideswiped by a fag smoking white van driver the other day - such a cliche I almost couldn't believe my eyes! I was very lucky that my vehicle is also large (as our 4th DC is due imminently, if I was in my old little car I think it would have been very serious).
The only actual accident I've ever been in was caused by a smoking driver, too.

I hope this ban actually happens.

My parents and my nana always smoked in the car while I was in it. Usually with the winows rolled up and the heater on. I was usually violently sick every journey. They thought it was travel sickness - but I was never sick on school coach journeys on on trips with friends whose parents didn't smoke.

DH's car doesn't have a cigarette lighter in it, but it does have the connector so we can use DVD, phone chargers etc

I would LOVE to see this happen, but like many other posters imagine that the policing of such a ban would be very difficult.

Bucharest commented that we have to hope the people in the car have the childs best interest at heart, but as I've seen so many times, this just doesn't happen - Unfortunately some people out there are just too damn STUPID to recognise the harm that they are doing to their children by trapping them in a confined space whilst they puff away merrily on their cigarette...

I'm sorry to say I have to include my own Mother in this description - not because she used to do it when I was a kid - Attitudes and knowledge about the damage was different then, and I guess it was a more 'usual' occurence - but because a few months ago I had the misfortune to have to get into a car with her - I had literally just told her I was 10 weeks pregnant (as the luggage ws being loaded in to the car, and she was putting out a cigarette), and then as soon as we got in she lit up again!!! And got in to a strop when I asked her not to, pointing out not only my pregnancy, but also my 2 year old son sitting behind her!!! Apparently it was her right to smoke and she wasn't going to have anyone tell her she couldn't ...And she wonders why we don't get on...

Hi All

I am pleased that there is pretty much universal support here. I would completely support a ban having always hated smoking and especially in cars. Interesting to see Mrs Kitty, Sweetkitty and Iklboo's comments re their own parents smoking in cars. My mother did too and I always hated it. I remember fighting about having the window downWe know so much more - why should today's kids have to suffer in the same way. Social pressure is clearly building, but a ban would help a lot more imho.

Even more amazed that a thread I started hasn't died before it got off the ground.

I agree with a ban.

I grew up with parents that were heavy smokers and I used to dread car journeys. Myself and my brother and sister would be wedged in the backseat with mum and dad smoking in the front. It was hell. I would never subject my own children to that.

They have both stopped smoking now but I feel fairly confident that there is no way they would subject their grandchildren to that if they did smoke. Their views on things have changed so much.

if the government hate smokers that much, why don;t they just ban the making of the ciggarettes completely??

oh no, of course, then they won;t get the tax from the smokers.

my neighbours park outside their house and then smoke in the car with their baby asleep in the back

Personally it makes me want to stub their cigarettes out on them. Selfish lazy bastards.

I smoked for 20 years but never in a car it's plain rank. And with children in the car it's also very wrong.

ban away.

seeing as it is ilegal to use a mobile whilst driving, yet epople still, it will never work

I think it's shit to smoke in a car if children are in it. It's obvious why.

Or anyone who doesn't smoke.

I'm worrying that I came on a bit strong there... sorry...

Smoke and kids in a confined space?? Of course it should be banned! My dad used to do this and it made me feel really sick, so the chemicals were obviously in my system. Yes, it is a free country, but children have a right to breath fresh air.

I am an ex-smoker myself, never smoked around kids and believe it should be banned in homes with kids too. Yes the parents have rights to smoke if they choose, but the kids have rights too, the right to breath clean air, in their own surely!!

Even if it would be hard to police, if they banned it, it would stop the majority doing it, just the sad few who ignore the law would still do it.

It is only as hard as policing the law to wear a seatbelt, and that has become second nature to the majority now, even though it would be hard to catch you out if you chose to break the law. A change of law can eventually bring about a change in culture, and in this case that would be a really good thing.

I am not sure about this one actually. How far can they go with bans? I don't smoke, but did before DCs. DH still does sometimes (cut right down) but never in the house - no one has smoked in our house since I was pg with DC1.

Even when I did smoke I would never have smoked around kids - though I didin't know any kids then so it wasn't really an issue!

I do have judgey thoughts when I see people in a sealed car with kids and smoking away, but I do think that if those children are otherwise being loved and cared for properly then there are far worse things that can happen. I do think it is awful for children to have to breathe in the air, but if those parents have not got the sense to realise this given all the health warnings then they are not really going to comply with the ban. What next, banning smoking in homes? It is so hard to enforce. A friend of mine who is a HV says she often goes to homes where there are family members puffing away around a newborn. She can't ban them from doing it... and even if she could then they would still do it when she isn't there.

Also, I think that since the smoking ban (which is generally a good thing) there are lots more people smoking out on the streets and so walking around town is a lot more smoky than it used to be.

but the 'there are worse things that can happen..' arguement is so weak.

There are always worse things that can happen, but increasing your child's risk of getting cancer is surely up among the worst.-