by Neil Thorpe, The Conversation
Smoking with children in the car could get the red light. Credit: Len Matthews
More than 500 health care professionals have signed an open letter to MPs urging their support for a ban on smoking in vehicles with children in. The ban forms part of the Children and Families Bill, which MPs will vote on in parliament today. If passed, it is likely that a requirement not to smoke in the car will fall to individuals because the police will find it extremely difficult to enforce.
A law might make people think about what damage their smoking could do to the health of children in the car but when deciding whether or not to break a law, they will also likely weigh up the perceived benefits of smoking against the risks of getting caught and the punishment they might face. If the perceived plusses outweigh the perceived negatives, then the ban will be ignored.
Enforcement challenges
But if people do choose to continue smoking, enforcing a law would be difficult. For much of the time a lit cigarette can be kept out of view, below the level of the dashboard. And trying to spot someone who is smoking and trying to evade the law makes it doubly difficult.
The police use fixed and mobile cameras to detect speeding as well as people using their mobile phone while driving. But unlike a mobile, which can generally be seen when it is held to a driver's ear, cigarettes will be more difficult to spot. When taking a puff, drivers can be identified from front-facing cameras, but it is very unlikely (if not impossible) to get a clear enough image of a passenger in the rear of a vehicle with enough clarity to determine their age. So even if you capture an image of someone smoking, it will be difficult to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that there was a child in the rear.
Problems of proof
E-cigarettes add new problems to enforcing this ban. How do you prove from a camera image that the driver was in fact smoking a cigarette rather than an e-cigarette? Police run the risk of incorrectly stopping drivers.
Then there's the issue of proving the age of passengers. Vehicles could be carrying someone under 18 or they could be a small adult. In some cases this might not be obvious and it is unlikely that the passenger would be carrying any form of photographic ID. And drivers can easily discard cigarettes (either in an ash tray or out of the window) if they feel they may have been spotted.
Cigarette smell in a vehicle, a full ash tray or even cigarette smell on the breath doesn't automatically indicate that someone was smoking; tobacco odours linger and ash trays may take days to be emptied – it would be the police officer's word against the driver's that they were smoking a real cigarette. A driver could simply turn around and say "no, it was an e-cigarette" and produce one from their pocket. Drivers can be very clever at circumventing rules on the road.
Self-enforcement is the only way
The best way of enforcing a no smoking ban would be through self-enforcement – educating drivers about the health risks to the point where the perceived negatives outweigh the perceived benefits of lighting up.
The huge amount of support that this ban is receiving from health professionals may be what's effective in getting it passed – as well as enforced by smokers with children. While risks of being caught and punished by the authorities are unlikely to be sufficient to deter drivers from smoking, a growing awareness that smoking in cars is bad for passengers may be what persuades people not to smoke rather than the law itself.
Explore further: Glance: US smoking over 50 years
This story is published courtesy of The Conversation (under Creative Commons-Attribution/No derivatives).
Medical Xpress on facebook
Related Stories
Glance: US smoking over 50 years
Feb 05, 2014
Some key events and adult smoking rates in the fight over tobacco during the last 50 years in the U.S.:
E-cigarettes, a poor smoking-cessation tool, use 19 harmful chemicals
Jan 30, 2014
(Medical Xpress)—It's no easy task to quit smoking and the lure of an e-cigarette, which claims to mimic the smoking experience without the harmful chemicals, seems a dream come true for many smokers. But with no FDA regulations, ...
Jordan to enforce smoking ban despite public fury
Jan 25, 2014
In Jordan, a country where smoking is so popular that motorists can be seen puffing away on miniature water pipes in traffic, the kingdom's government now wants to enforce a Western-style smoking ban in restaurants, ...
Role of E-cigarettes in eliminating tobacco use discussed
Dec 19, 2013
(HealthDay)—The public health issues relating to electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and their role in eliminating tobacco use are discussed in a perspective piece published online Dec. 18 in the New En ...
Philippines warns against e-cigarette use
Apr 12, 2013
The Philippine health department warned the public on Friday against electronic cigarettes, saying the tobacco substitute could turn children into smokers.
Recommended for you
US company recalls 8.7 million pounds of meat
18 hours ago
A northern California company is recalling more than 8.7 million pounds (3.95 million kilograms) of beef products because it processed diseased and unhealthy animals without a full federal inspection, U.S. officials said ...
Experts increasingly contemplate end of smoking
Feb 09, 2014
U.S. health officials have begun to predict the end of cigarette smoking in America.
More family medicine residency spots but shortfall remains
Feb 08, 2014
(HealthDay)—Despite increases in recent years to the number of medical school graduates choosing family medicine, a shortfall in the primary care workforce persists, according to the American Medical Association ...
Concierge-style practices increasing in popularity
Feb 08, 2014
(HealthDay)—An increasing number of physicians are forming concierge practices, in which they collect monthly cash fees from patients instead of insurance reimbursements, according to an article published ...
Feds say they fixed Medicaid problem for children
Feb 08, 2014
The federal government tells a New Hampshire congresswoman they have updated the HealthCare.gov website to fix a wrinkle that temporarily left some children without insurance coverage.
Variability of contact precaution policies in US emergency departments
Feb 07, 2014
In a study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology on February 7, 2014, Daniel J. Pallin, MD, MPH and Jeremiah D. Schuur, MD, MS, surveyed a random sample of US emergency departments (EDs) and found substa ...
User comments
© Medical Xpress 2011-2014, Science X network
by Neil Thorpe, The Conversation
Smoking with children in the car could get the red light. Credit: Len Matthews
More than 500 health care professionals have signed an open letter to MPs urging their support for a ban on smoking in vehicles with children in. The ban forms part of the Children and Families Bill, which MPs will vote on in parliament today. If passed, it is likely that a requirement not to smoke in the car will fall to individuals because the police will find it extremely difficult to enforce.
A law might make people think about what damage their smoking could do to the health of children in the car but when deciding whether or not to break a law, they will also likely weigh up the perceived benefits of smoking against the risks of getting caught and the punishment they might face. If the perceived plusses outweigh the perceived negatives, then the ban will be ignored.
Enforcement challenges
But if people do choose to continue smoking, enforcing a law would be difficult. For much of the time a lit cigarette can be kept out of view, below the level of the dashboard. And trying to spot someone who is smoking and trying to evade the law makes it doubly difficult.
The police use fixed and mobile cameras to detect speeding as well as people using their mobile phone while driving. But unlike a mobile, which can generally be seen when it is held to a driver's ear, cigarettes will be more difficult to spot. When taking a puff, drivers can be identified from front-facing cameras, but it is very unlikely (if not impossible) to get a clear enough image of a passenger in the rear of a vehicle with enough clarity to determine their age. So even if you capture an image of someone smoking, it will be difficult to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that there was a child in the rear.
Problems of proof
E-cigarettes add new problems to enforcing this ban. How do you prove from a camera image that the driver was in fact smoking a cigarette rather than an e-cigarette? Police run the risk of incorrectly stopping drivers.
Then there's the issue of proving the age of passengers. Vehicles could be carrying someone under 18 or they could be a small adult. In some cases this might not be obvious and it is unlikely that the passenger would be carrying any form of photographic ID. And drivers can easily discard cigarettes (either in an ash tray or out of the window) if they feel they may have been spotted.
Cigarette smell in a vehicle, a full ash tray or even cigarette smell on the breath doesn't automatically indicate that someone was smoking; tobacco odours linger and ash trays may take days to be emptied – it would be the police officer's word against the driver's that they were smoking a real cigarette. A driver could simply turn around and say "no, it was an e-cigarette" and produce one from their pocket. Drivers can be very clever at circumventing rules on the road.
Self-enforcement is the only way
The best way of enforcing a no smoking ban would be through self-enforcement – educating drivers about the health risks to the point where the perceived negatives outweigh the perceived benefits of lighting up.
The huge amount of support that this ban is receiving from health professionals may be what's effective in getting it passed – as well as enforced by smokers with children. While risks of being caught and punished by the authorities are unlikely to be sufficient to deter drivers from smoking, a growing awareness that smoking in cars is bad for passengers may be what persuades people not to smoke rather than the law itself.
Explore further: Glance: US smoking over 50 years
This story is published courtesy of The Conversation (under Creative Commons-Attribution/No derivatives).
Medical Xpress on facebook
Related Stories
Glance: US smoking over 50 years
Feb 05, 2014
Some key events and adult smoking rates in the fight over tobacco during the last 50 years in the U.S.:
E-cigarettes, a poor smoking-cessation tool, use 19 harmful chemicals
Jan 30, 2014
(Medical Xpress)—It's no easy task to quit smoking and the lure of an e-cigarette, which claims to mimic the smoking experience without the harmful chemicals, seems a dream come true for many smokers. But with no FDA regulations, ...
Jordan to enforce smoking ban despite public fury
Jan 25, 2014
In Jordan, a country where smoking is so popular that motorists can be seen puffing away on miniature water pipes in traffic, the kingdom's government now wants to enforce a Western-style smoking ban in restaurants, ...
Role of E-cigarettes in eliminating tobacco use discussed
Dec 19, 2013
(HealthDay)—The public health issues relating to electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and their role in eliminating tobacco use are discussed in a perspective piece published online Dec. 18 in the New En ...
Philippines warns against e-cigarette use
Apr 12, 2013
The Philippine health department warned the public on Friday against electronic cigarettes, saying the tobacco substitute could turn children into smokers.
Recommended for you
US company recalls 8.7 million pounds of meat
18 hours ago
A northern California company is recalling more than 8.7 million pounds (3.95 million kilograms) of beef products because it processed diseased and unhealthy animals without a full federal inspection, U.S. officials said ...
Experts increasingly contemplate end of smoking
Feb 09, 2014
U.S. health officials have begun to predict the end of cigarette smoking in America.
More family medicine residency spots but shortfall remains
Feb 08, 2014
(HealthDay)—Despite increases in recent years to the number of medical school graduates choosing family medicine, a shortfall in the primary care workforce persists, according to the American Medical Association ...
Concierge-style practices increasing in popularity
Feb 08, 2014
(HealthDay)—An increasing number of physicians are forming concierge practices, in which they collect monthly cash fees from patients instead of insurance reimbursements, according to an article published ...
Feds say they fixed Medicaid problem for children
Feb 08, 2014
The federal government tells a New Hampshire congresswoman they have updated the HealthCare.gov website to fix a wrinkle that temporarily left some children without insurance coverage.
Variability of contact precaution policies in US emergency departments
Feb 07, 2014
In a study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology on February 7, 2014, Daniel J. Pallin, MD, MPH and Jeremiah D. Schuur, MD, MS, surveyed a random sample of US emergency departments (EDs) and found substa ...
User comments
© Medical Xpress 2011-2014, Science X network
0 comments:
Post a Comment