Quick shot
I heard a news tease this morning which I've been unable to confirm, that a "New Jersey Legislator" wants to make it illegal to smoke even in your own car.
Now, since I haven't been able to find specifics (I haven't had time to look very hard), I'm not commenting on this law PER SE (there may be more to it, like prohibiting smoking if there are children in the car or other passengers, or prohibiting smoking in a CLOSED car, such that the driver's view is impaired), but in thinking about it, I think I've come to a good, cutesy way of saying why I would disagree with this law as stated in the teaser, while still supporting restrictions on where you can smoke in public:
Government's job is not to protect us from our own stupidity. Government's job is to protect me from your stupidity and you from mine.
And you can quote me on that.
Liam.
posted by Liam at 7/28/2005 07:16:00 AM
2 Comments:
Confirmed.
http://news.google.com/news?q=MCKEON+smoking
from one of the articles:
A bill proposed by New Jersey Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex), A-4306, introduced June 27, calls for a fine up to $250 for smoking while driving. It would be a secondary offense such as the use of cellphones, enforced only if a motorist is pulled over for another offense.
...
Assemblyman McKeon claims his bill would promote safety, but he did not have any statistics backing up his claim that banning smoking would decrease the risk of car accidents.
He admits his primary goal is "to bring focus to the ravages of tobacco." His father died of smoking-related emphysema two years ago.
The AAA Foundation of Traffic Safety says only 1.2 percent of traffic accidents is smoking-related.
A key part of the idea seems to be preventing the driver from operating the car while smoking. Like cell phone usage, there'd be nothing wrong with smoking while the vehicle was stopped.
As an ex-smoker, I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, smoking is one thing that can keep you from falling asleep on a long car journey. On the other hand, smoking causes cancer and can kill you (as it recently did this year to both my mother and mother-in-law). But there is such a thing as privacy... then again, a driver's primary responsibility is to drive, and anything that distracts can only be bad.
I'd be comfortable with such a law as long as it stays an "add-on" law - one that can only increase your fine if you've already been stopped for something; or maybe as an additional ticket given to you after you've already been given one for causing an accident. But I doubt it would stay there. (I also doubt it will pass the NJ legislature.)
Thursday, July 28, 2005 10:08:00 AM
I am an ex-smoker and at the same time I am almost a Libertarian. I hate laws that prohibit or restrict our behavior unless said behavior infringes on the rights of others. I find smoking offensive to me, and very uncomfortable since I cannot breath deep breaths when there is too much smoke in one room. I personally have overcome this by not being in places that this is allowed. This has kept me from enjoying certain places that I would otherwise like to visit. Protecting yourself from second hand smoke is easier than trying to protect someone else from it such as the children riding in a car of their parents. I just do not have a good remedy for this situation except making smoking as illegal as open fires which would be a total ban on all such behavior except out in the country. This would be as effective as pro-hibition and would not work. ?????
Thursday, July 28, 2005 9:06:00 PM
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