Cycling UK Forum

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014 ... -next-year

It is earnestly to be hoped that smoking will be banned in cars without children too. I have never smoked or telephoned while cycling or driving. I believe both are impossible.

….and who's going to enforce it, the police can't even stop people using their mobile phones.

Obviously it's not impossible to text or telephone whilst riding, although you might not feel confident doing this. It's also perfectly possible to smoke whilst riding but it can be a bit tricky getting the roach in on some descents.

yakdiver wrote:….and who's going to enforce it, the police can't even stop people using their mobile phones.

No, and they can't even catch drunk drivers, speeders, RLJers, VED dodgers, etc etc etc etc either.

Much as I'd like a law against smoking in a car, we have enough laws at the moment, and most - if not all - go un-enforced and undetected.

Get enforced the ones we do have now, before we have new ones.

The people who smoke while their kids are in the car are likely to smoke watching TV anyway. So I'm not sure how much harm will be prevented. It's a bit nanny state for minimal public health gain. And it won't be enforced.

Shouldn't the pollution motor vehicles pump out of their exhausts in much larger quantities be tackled first?

Mick F wrote:

yakdiver wrote:….and who's going to enforce it, the police can't even stop people using their mobile phones.

No, and they can't even catch drunk drivers, speeders, RLJers, VED dodgers, etc etc etc etc either.

Much as I'd like a law against smoking in a car, we have enough laws at the moment, and most - if not all - go un-enforced and undetected.

Get enforced the ones we do have now, before we have new ones.

+1

irc wrote:The people who smoke while their kids are in the car are likely to smoke watching TV anyway. So I'm not sure how much harm will be prevented. It's a bit nanny state for minimal public health gain. And it won't be enforced.

+1

Ian

Mick F wrote:........ they can't even catch drunk drivers, speeders, RLJers, VED dodgers, etc etc etc etc either.

Much as I'd like a law against smoking in a car, we have enough laws at the moment, and most - if not all - go un-enforced and undetected.

Get enforced the ones we do have now, before we have new ones.

+1
But for that we first need an effective police force.

A packet of 20 fags is now £8. The fine for the offence will be £50.

I think that with considering the chances of detection being very low and the fine quite small in comparison to the cost of smoking, this will be relying on the perpetrators choosing to obey the law for the sake of it. As they are willing to let their kids suffer for their own addiction, I dont see that having much impact.

irc wrote:The people who smoke while their kids are in the car are likely to smoke watching TV anyway. So I'm not sure how much harm will be prevented. It's a bit nanny state for minimal public health gain. And it won't be enforced.

Not in Glasgow or Carmarthen, that is for sure.

irc wrote:The people who smoke while their kids are in the car are likely to smoke watching TV anyway. So I'm not sure how much harm will be prevented. It's a bit nanny state for minimal public health gain. And it won't be enforced.

Even taken with a pinch of salt the following is quite alarming
"Research indicates 300,000 children in the UK visit a GP each year because of the effects of second-hand smoke, with 9,500 going to hospital."

In theory it's self evident that you shouldn't smoke in the same room as kids, part of the issue with cars appears to be that the more confined space is far worse than smoking in the same room.
There will be some folk who will take this as a cue and stop and no doubt some folk who think their civil liberties outweigh any harm they do to their children.

The idea that it can't be enforced and therefore it shouldn't be made into a law is imo nonsense. We could apply that to most motoring offences but I'm sure that we'd rather they stay in which case why not this?

kwackers wrote:

irc wrote:The people who smoke while their kids are in the car are likely to smoke watching TV anyway. So I'm not sure how much harm will be prevented. It's a bit nanny state for minimal public health gain. And it won't be enforced.

Even taken with a pinch of salt the following is quite alarming
"Research indicates 300,000 children in the UK visit a GP each year because of the effects of second-hand smoke, with 9,500 going to hospital."

In theory it's self evident that you shouldn't smoke in the same room as kids, part of the issue with cars appears to be that the more confined space is far worse than smoking in the same room.
There will be some folk who will take this as a cue and stop and no doubt some folk who think their civil liberties outweigh any harm they do to their children.

The idea that it can't be enforced and therefore it shouldn't be made into a law is imo nonsense. We could apply that to most motoring offences but I'm sure that we'd rather they stay in which case why not this?

+1

Without it being enforced, the fact that it's there and the small amount of publicity that its introduction is getting is enough to make some people think a bit about what they're doing, and push it towards becoming socially unacceptable. This is a far greater deterrant than any enforcement.

In this sense a lack of enforcement is in fact a good thing. If everything was rigorously enforced, then we would have a 'nanny state', whereas in an ideal world, we would need no laws enforcing, people would just do 'the right thing'. If people only follow rules because they are worried about being caught, they will always break them when they know they won't be, whereas if people follow them out of their own beliefs in what is right and what is wrong, they will follow them regardless.

kwackers wrote:...........The idea that it can't be enforced and therefore it shouldn't be made into a law is imo nonsense. We could apply that to most motoring offences but I'm sure that we'd rather they stay in which case why not this?

Good point,but will it make people think before smoking in their cars with children in?
I sincerely hope it does but thinking and smoking doesn't seem to be a strong point for smokers.
It's a mug's game.
Those that smoke don't think about themselves enough,to consider those their habit affects.

Sorry I fail to see what this has got to do with Cycling.
I

NUKe wrote:Sorry I fail to see what this has got to do with Cycling.
I

Some folk may be more in control of their vehicles - I remember one time seeing a driver merrily driving along with a mobile phone in one hand (I think before there was a law against it) & a cigarette in the other!

Rick.