New Jersey to Stop Smoking While Driving

ASSOCIATED PRESS (http://www.ap.org/)

Monday, July 25, 2005

TRENTON, N.J. - Ashtrays have been disappearing in cars like fins on Cadillacs, and so could smoking while driving in New Jersey, under a measure introduced in the Legislature.

Although the measure faces long odds, it still has smokers incensed and arguing it's a Big Brother intrusion that threatens to take away one of the few places they can enjoy their habit. "The day a politician wants to tell me I can't smoke in my car, that's the day he takes over my lease payments," said John Cito, a financial planner from Hackensack with a taste for $20 US cigars.

Those cigars, pipes and cigarettes would become no-nos for drivers. Offenders would be stung with a fine of up to $250, under the measure, whose sponsor said it's designed more to improve highway safety than protect health.

Some states, including New Jersey, have considered putting the brakes on smoking while children are in the car. But none have gone for an outright ban on smoking while driving, according to Washington, D.C.-based Action on Smoking and Health, the country's oldest anti-tobacco organization.

Smokers, feeling like easy targets, say enough already. They argue they've been forced outside office buildings, run off the grounds of public facilities, and asked to pony up more in per-pack excise taxes when states feel a budget squeeze.

"With smoking, it's becoming increasingly fashionable to target legislation or prohibitions," said George Koodray, a member of the Metropolitan Cigar Society, a 100-strong group that meets in Paterson for dinner and a smoke.

Assemblyman John McKeon, a tobacco opponent whose father died of emphysema, sponsored the legislation. He cites a AAA-sponsored study on driver distractions in which the automobile association found that of 32,000 accidents linked to distraction, one per cent were related to smoking.

The measure, co-sponsored by Assemblywoman Lorretta Weinberg, a fellow Democrat, was introduced last month just before legislators' summer break. It faces some improbable odds for passing.

Some legislators may fear the bill is frivolous compared with more pressing issues like taxes, said political analyst David Rebovich.

And there's this to consider: Traffic safety groups acknowledge motorists now widely ignore the state's year-old law against using hand-held cellphones, so why would smoking be any different?

Mitchell Sklar, of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, said police departments may balk at enforcing such a law. "In general, we'd rather not try to incrementally look at every single behaviour and make those a violation," he said.


SOURCE: Toronto Sun (http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/07/25/1146590-ap.html)

It'll never fly. They've been trying the same thing here for years (as well as smoking on streets).

For starters, if they do that, then they'll have to enforce no talking on cell phones (hand-held OR hands-free), eating, drinking (especially the morning coffee), putting on make-up (WTF is THAT all about?), shaving, reading (spotted a guy reading a computer magazine in rush hour traffic on Friday) and everything else that goes on inside cars. I'm not saying any of it is right, just they've opened a huge can of worms if they attempt to pass this one.

I heard about that on the news. They've stopped smoking in alot of bar/restaurants,and all public buildings, but to say you can't smoke in your own car is going a bit too far.

I heard about that on the news. They've stopped smoking in alot of bar/restaurants,and all public buildings, but to say you can't smoke in your own car is going a bit too far.
I think they are more concerned about the safety of driving and leer away from distractions. It's the same thing with cellphone usage. In my state's capital, Santa Fe, there is a law against cellphone usage while driving where people have been ticketed for doing it.

It's the same thing with cellphone usage. In my state's capital, Santa Fe, there is a law against cellphone usage while driving where people have been ticketed for doing it.

They have done the same in the city of Chicago.

It'll never fly. They've been trying the same thing here for years (as well as smoking on streets).

For starters, if they do that, then they'll have to enforce no talking on cell phones (hand-held OR hands-free), eating, drinking (especially the morning coffee), putting on make-up (WTF is THAT all about?), shaving, reading (spotted a guy reading a computer magazine in rush hour traffic on Friday) and everything else that goes on inside cars. I'm not saying any of it is right, just they've opened a huge can of worms if they attempt to pass this one.


I doubt it is just distractions that they are concerned about. What if someone threw out a cigarette and it caught some brush and caused a fire? It has happened before. But I don't think it will be passed.

I doubt it is just distractions that they are concerned about. What if someone threw out a cigarette and it caught some brush and caused a fire? It has happened before. But I don't think it will be passed.
For the rare occurance, I can't see passing a law because of some idiot doing that. Yes, it has happened, but really, how often since cars were invented? You could say the same for the average litterbug - some people toss entire bags from McDonald's and that out the window which could cause an accident, plus its littering - that's not been the reason I've ever seen discussed - its always been the "distraction" thing. It's just an excuse the anti-smoking groups are using. They want smoking banned altogether - as I mentioned, I've even heard talk of banning it while OUTSIDE on public streets. I've even heard of home ban proposals - you can't do that to something that is legal. The only way to stop people from smoking is to stop the manufacturer's from making cigarettes and that will never happen because the companies are some of the largest lobby groups going.

I heard about that on the news. They've stopped smoking in alot of bar/restaurants,and all public buildings, but to say you can't smoke in your own car is going a bit too far.
I dunno that "a bit too far" is the right way to look at it, i just think it's not plausible. I mean will there be cops standing at every mile marker with binoculars waiting to pull over someone who is caught smoking. What if they put it out real quick and claim that the smell is from a cigarette they smoked right before they started driving.

It's just not workable.

I dunno that "a bit too far" is the right way to look at it, i just think it's not plausible. I mean will there be cops standing at every mile marker with binoculars waiting to pull over someone who is caught smoking. What if they put it out real quick and claim that the smell is from a cigarette they smoked right before they started driving.

It's just not workable.


That's how I feel about it. The same with all the other crazy things people do while driving.

It's just too much of an infrigement of personal rights and freedoms too.


They should be more looking at getting these mobile meth labs off the roads - its shocking to hear just how often that sort of thing is happening - talk about a moving bomb on the road!

Actually, I cant say this is a bad idea ( though thoroughly uninforceable ), I remember reading about a young woman driving a convertible when the car ahead dumped his cigarette out the window and the wind carried it into her lap, her dress caught fire and she wound up with 3rd degree burns on her legs....granted, this is probably a 1 in 1,000,000 chance, but, makes you think about how the unintetional actions of one can affect others

fine with me.

how about we ban cigarettes so smokers can stop polluting mine and every other nonsmoker's lungs. kthxsbye.

hey, as long as its still legal to have sex and play video games while driving, who cares?

hey, as long as its still legal to have sex and play video games while driving, who cares?


You do have vivid dreams Rob! :lol:

how about we ban cigarettes so smokers can stop polluting mine and every other nonsmoker's lungs. kthxsbye.
for real.

It won't pass. I think cell phone usage should be more of a concern than smoking in cars. If people would actually throw their cigarette butt into an empty soda can (I always have one in my car because I couldn't throw cigarettes out on the street) or the ashtray, things would be a little better. Smoking is already pretty much banned in all public buildings around here, why should they go after people in their own cars?!

I don't think something like this can really be enforced.