Posted on 03/19/2012 4:05:11 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The Maryland Senate passed a bill Wednesday morning that would make it illegal for a driver or passenger to smoke in a vehicle occupied by a child under 8 years old.
Senators voted 27-19 to send the bill to the House of Delegates after a lively debate over the rights of children to be protected from the dangers of second-hand smoke versus the rights of parents to be free from government intrusion in their vehicles.
The legislation would allow police officers to pull over drivers observed to be smoking in cars with a child in a booster seat. Children 8 and up were exempted because of the difficulty of determining the age of an older child. The maximum fine for a violation would be set at $50.
Proponents pointed to multiple scientific studies have shown that children in cars where others smoke are exposed to unsafe levels of toxins -- whether the windows of the vehicle are rolled up or not.
"This isn't about Big Brother. This is about little brother in the back seat," said Sen. Jamie Raskin, D-Montgomery.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
It’s called the flush tax. It is here and they are raising it.
Holy sh*t(pun intended), and I thought I was just joking.
The ability to influence others seems to be a very powerful drive in human.
The “new car smell” is much more dangerous than SHS. I hope they ban purchasing new cars too!
If I lived in htat state I would buy a “baby on board” sticker and put a doll in a car seat. Then smoke away! I love to waste government revenue collectors’ time!
Except of course that there is no actual proven science that shows a long term negative effect due to exposure to SHS. They used the same “computer models” that the globull warming folks have used.
Look at it this way, it used to be that there was always exposure to SHS and we had very few people with asthma and allergies. Now the vast majority of children are never exposed to SHS and now we have very high rates of asthma and allergies!
AYAUP.
I remember one time driving up to Dover my daughter looks at me from the passenger seat and says "Mom, we need to pull over, we're in Delaware......" I forget exactly how old she was, maybe 10, but knew that in Delaware she wasn't allowed to ride in the front seat.
I guess that both I and my (now deceased) parents were some sort of freaks and should have been incarcerated for the past 50 years.
Along with the parents of everyone of us over the age of 50.
There is no such thing as a closed car. In fact it can be argued there is more harm from the fumes of the vehicle itself than from the few minutes of smoke from a cigarette, which are easily dispelled by a cracked window.
Personally I can not, and have never been able to, ride in a vehicle with all the windows closed whether anyone is smoking or not.
I’m 51 and growing up knew only 2 kids with asthma. That was at a time most kids had at least one parent who smoked. My daughter is 13 and it seems like about half the kids she knows have asthma or other respiratory issues. With one exception, all the kids without such problems all have at least one parent who smokes.
Anecdotal, yes. Proof of anything, no. Worthy of wondering about, of course.......but anyone who does is ridiculed and accused of being in the pocket of big Tobacco.
“How did these brilliant from birth politicians come up with “8 years old” I wonder?”
From the article -
“Children 8 and up were exempted because of the difficulty of determining the age of an older child.”
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