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Driving laws go up in smoke.

The past century has seen a whole number of law changes in regards to smoking, and here is the newest one yet- smoking is to be banned in cars with passengers under the age of 18.

Smoking has always been a bit controversial. Up until 2007 you were allowed to light up wherever you fancied, at a restaurant with your children, bars, parks, hotels; hospitals even had smoking rooms. Before that, adverts were allowed to be played on television, and years before that, cigarettes were actually encouraged as a way to ‘improve your health.’ But recently a new law has come into play to further prevent smokers from lighting up outside their homes, and that is a ban on smoking and driving with children in the car.

This new law has already been implemented in Wales, and is being debated for the rest of the UK. This latest law is an attempt to help protect children from second or third-hand cigarette smoke- a passive killer and one of the largest causes of children respiratory problems in the UK.

If seen lighting up behind the wheel, the accused can be fined up to £10,000. The driver doesn’t even need to be the one smoking to receive a hefty fine as a non-smoking driver can also be punished. If you are behind the wheel of a car carrying persons below the age of 18 and another adult decides to light up, you are liable for them, and therefore will receive the fine unless you can show you tried hard to stop them.

Passive smoking can lead to a whole host of health problems for children, including crone’s disease and asthma as well as other devastatingly life-altering respiratory problems. One cigarette smoked in a car can create concentrations of smoke that is more than eleven times greater than an average smoky pub and pollution levels thirty-five times greater than those deemed safe by the World Health Organisation. Because of this it is no wonder that passive smoking in children costs the NHS a staggering £23million per year.

As well as the obvious knockoff effects to health, smoking in your vehicle can also be extremely dangerous to those outside of it. A poll of 1,000 drivers by Insurance Company Esure, found that 45% of drivers have admitted to an accident or near miss due to smoking. This amounts to just over 3million drivers across the country- an alarming amount whom could have ended up killed or injured because of an indirect effect of cigarettes. 46% of participants admitted to accidentally dropping a cigarette, with 26% taking their eyes off the road to pick it up and a shocking 75% felt there was no risk from smoking when on a motorway.

Some people who oppose the new laws include Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who warned that the proposed legislation was unenforceable and illiberal.

Conservative veteran Ken Clarke said “I don’t think our traffic police are going to be concentrating enormous efforts on racing up and down the motorway peering into cars, trying to see whether there is a child. We will probably find two or three people fined in a year.

Smoking in cars has already been banned in Wales, Australia, Canada, Cyprus, South Africa and in the USA.

Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation Dr Penny Woods said of the law “Second-hand smoke can increase a child’s risk of illnesses ranging from colds, ear infections and asthma attacks through to meningitis and cot death.

“Research has shown that smoking in a car, even with the windows down or air conditioning on, can create potentially toxic concentrations of second-hand smoke.

“Every week, nearly half a million children are exposed to second-hand smoke in their family car.

“Bans on smoking in cars carrying children have already been shown to be enforceable and effective in countries like Australia and Canada, and we anticipate a ban will prove equally successful here.”

Campaigners have argued that laws related to smoking in work vehicles, wearing seatbelts, and child car-seat regulations are already enforced successfully in this country and no policing organisation has suggested that enforcing no smoking in cars carrying children will be any more difficult.

It has not been stated exactly when and if the law will come into place in the UK, but the measure was concluded by the Government in February this year with a majority of 269 votes. There has been support from various other firms; such as Alternative Route Finance, a vehicle leasing and consultancy firm - who support the laws.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Nick Taylor .