Bangor Makes It Illegal to Smoke in Cars

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BANGOR, Maine (AP) -- The Bangor City Council approved a measure Monday that prohibits people from smoking in vehicles when children are present.

When the law goes into effect next week, Bangor will become the first municipality in Maine to have such a law. Similar statewide measures have been adopted in Arkansas and Louisiana and are under consideration in several other states.

People who smoke with children present in the confined space of a car or truck might as well be deliberately trying to kill those children, said City Councilor Patricia Blanchette, who is a smoker.

"Let's step up to the plate and lead; our children are worth the fight," she said.

The ordinance, which was approved by a 6-3 vote, applies to any motor vehicles on any public roads within the city. Violators face fines of up to $50.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SMOKING_CARS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
 
The law in Louisiana has put an age limit on it. 12 and under only. After that, free game.

I smoke but not in my car or home and the changes haven't had an impact on me at all. It's MY habit, not my childrens.
 
Cigarettes went up over 10$ per carton and over $1 per pack on January 1st, so many more people will be able to quit or forced to quit. I'm afraid that poorer smokers will just have to spend less or cut back on necesseties until they are able to , and that is not good for anyone.
 
Wow, I'm just thinking about all those family vacations in the station wagon my brothers and I never would have had! LOL.

I was going to say I wouldn't have even gotten a ride to school or piano lessons, or much of anything! But I can't say that.

Because I didn't (get a ride to school or piano lessons or really, much of anything)!

My smoking parents were into exercise, as in you want to go there, you walk, after all, it's good for you.

Eve
 
Everyone knows smoking is bad but I am really against the government regulating our safety to the extent it is an invasion of privacy. Same with the helmet law and motorcycles. Any idiot knows he's safer with a helmet on but it should be your CHOICE. I'm not saying it's a good thing to smoke in an enclosed car with your baby there but the government does not need to be our mother.
 
miimaa said:
Everyone knows smoking is bad but I am really against the government regulating our safety to the extent it is an invasion of privacy. Same with the helmet law and motorcycles. Any idiot knows he's safer with a helmet on but it should be your CHOICE. I'm not saying it's a good thing to smoke in an enclosed car with your baby there but the government does not need to be our mother.
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How fair is that to the EMT who has to scrape your brain matter off the pavement? How fair is that to child sitting in the car breathing in YOUR smoke?

In either of those instances, it's not like they have a choice.
 
miimaa said:
Everyone knows smoking is bad but I am really against the government regulating our safety to the extent it is an invasion of privacy. Same with the helmet law and motorcycles. Any idiot knows he's safer with a helmet on but it should be your CHOICE. I'm not saying it's a good thing to smoke in an enclosed car with your baby there but the government does not need to be our mother.
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Think of the medical expense, that we all are liable for, to take care of some individual who decided not to wear a helmet. They don't have a right, to burden me with that expense, or anyone else for that matter.
 
Paladin said:
How fair is that to the EMT who has to scrape your brain matter off the pavement? How fair is that to child sitting in the car breathing in YOUR smoke?

In either of those instances, it's not like they have a choice.
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I DID say it wasn't a good idea to smoke in an enclosed car with your baby there... but HOW MUCH should the government CONTROL our lives and LIMIT our choices? Today it is smoking and trans-fats - what's next?
 
Buzzm1 said:
Think of the medical expense, that we all are liable for, to take care of some individual who decided not to wear a helmet. They don't have a right, to burden me with that expense, or anyone else for that matter.
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Here in Minnesota we don't have a helmut law and I do not know of anyone (and many of my friends ride motorcycles) that is in a nursing home on public assistance because they crashed into a tree. Actually that is pretty rare. There are way more people living at your "expense" that are welfare mothers or just plain lazy scammers on SSI disability.
 
miimaa said:
Here in Minnesota we don't have a helmut law and I do not know of anyone (and many of my friends ride motorcycles) that is in a nursing home on public assistance because they crashed into a tree. Actually that is pretty rare. There are way more people living at your "expense" that are welfare mothers or just plain lazy scammers on SSI disability.
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If they can tell us not to smoke because of health and health care costs, then I think they should tell all the overeaters ordering Big Macs and large fries that they cannot. They raise health care costs too. They also subject their offspring to genetic predispositions -- high blood pressure, diabetes and etc. Fair is fair. (Too bad it's not).

Eve
 
Yeehaw! Glad to hear it.

No offense, but I love to hear about all of the whiners whine about this and 'by God I have the right to smoke in my car...it is, after all, my car".

First, who--under their 'my car' belief--is looking out for the infant and children in the car that have no vote in their digusting, vile habit on someone else. Who has their backs? IMHO, they should ammend the law that anyone caught smoking with a kid in the car should be arrested and have the kids taken away permanently. They are unfit to parent.

Next, does 'my car' exempt me from the laws of the local, state, and federal level? I can deal drugs, rape, rob, and pilllage as long as I do it in my car?

Hogwash, this is a great law. I can't tell you -- driving a big truck like I do -- how many times I will drive by a car that looks like cheech and chong's van because the driver is smoking with a kid in the car.

Cal
 
miimaa said:
I DID say it wasn't a good idea to smoke in an enclosed car with your baby there... but HOW MUCH should the government CONTROL our lives and LIMIT our choices? Today it is smoking and trans-fats - what's next?
Click to expand...

The unfortunate part is that people who believe like and those that will jump up and down, screaming about choice.....completely and totally ignore the fact that the smoker can choose an alternate time to smoke, an alternate place, etc. You will jump up and down about your rights but could care less about the captive children that are suffering as a result of having their right to breathe clean air overruled by their parents.

Your right to do things ends where my skin begins.

Cal
 
calus_3 said:
Yeehaw! Glad to hear it.

No offense, but I love to hear about all of the whiners whine about this and 'by God I have the right to smoke in my car...it is, after all, my car".

First, who--under their 'my car' belief--is looking out for the infant and children in the car that have no vote in their digusting, vile habit on someone else. Who has their backs? IMHO, they should ammend the law that anyone caught smoking with a kid in the car should be arrested and have the kids taken away permanently. They are unfit to parent.

Next, does 'my car' exempt me from the laws of the local, state, and federal level? I can deal drugs, rape, rob, and pilllage as long as I do it in my car?

Hogwash, this is a great law. I can't tell you -- driving a big truck like I do -- how many times I will drive by a car that looks like cheech and chong's van because the driver is smoking with a kid in the car.

Cal
Click to expand...

This is getting a little carried away. First off - I am NOT against this law in and of itself. BUT... if said parent is a smoker wouldn't it follow that he/she is smoking in the home?? Should there be a law that if you have a child under 12 you cannot smoke within X feet of the child? (Personally - I don't think anyone should ever smoke around a child but I'm talking about government CONTROL of our personal lives).

WTH does smoking have to do with drugs and rape? Please!! If you want to go down the slippery slope then should ANY potentially harmful behavior be outlawed??? That could include boating, bicycling, swimming, skiing, building a campfire... AGAIN - I am not disagreeing the premise of this law but with too much government interference and control over it's citizens.
 
calus_3 said:
The unfortunate part is that people who believe like and those that will jump up and down, screaming about choice.....completely and totally ignore the fact that the smoker can choose an alternate time to smoke, an alternate place, etc. You will jump up and down about your rights but could care less about the captive children that are suffering as a result of having their right to breathe clean air overruled by their parents.

Your right to do things ends where my skin begins.

Cal
Click to expand...


I think you are missing my point entirely. It is NOT ABOUT smoking or not smoking but about the government basically saying we are too stupid to make intelligent decisions so the decision-making will be taken out of our hands and you will be fined if don't follow the rules.
 
miimaa said:
I think you are missing my point entirely. It is NOT ABOUT smoking or not smoking but about the government basically saying we are too stupid to make intelligent decisions so the decision-making will be taken out of our hands and you will be fined if don't follow the rules.
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Do you smoke miimaa??
 
eve said:
If they can tell us not to smoke because of health and health care costs, then I think they should tell all the overeaters ordering Big Macs and large fries that they cannot. They raise health care costs too. They also subject their offspring to genetic predispositions -- high blood pressure, diabetes and etc. Fair is fair. (Too bad it's not).

Eve
Click to expand...
They are working on creating laws--England is a few steps ahead of us--they are really tackling the obesity problem as it is greatly effecting health care costs within their country.
 
miimaa said:
I think you are missing my point entirely. It is NOT ABOUT smoking or not smoking but about the government basically saying we are too stupid to make intelligent decisions so the decision-making will be taken out of our hands and you will be fined if don't follow the rules.
Click to expand...

Have you SEEN the morons driving down the road with children in the car while smoking? This issue is about the fact that some people are too stupid...well, maybe that is misleading.....too careless and selfish not to refrain.

The issue is precisely about those that smoke while in the car...it isn't about me, NOT smoking while my kids are in the car. There is no law needed to keep someone from not doing something dumb.

For the record though, I don't think they should be fined at all. I think they should be arrested for child abuse.

Cal
 
They have strong evidence that the combination of raising cigarette prices through taxation, along with creating strict laws on where people are allowed to smoke, is effective in reducing the number of smokers.

I say--go for it.
 
miimaa said:
This is getting a little carried away. First off - I am NOT against this law in and of itself. BUT... if said parent is a smoker wouldn't it follow that he/she is smoking in the home?? Should there be a law that if you have a child under 12 you cannot smoke within X feet of the child? (Personally - I don't think anyone should ever smoke around a child but I'm talking about government CONTROL of our personal lives).

WTH does smoking have to do with drugs and rape? Please!! If you want to go down the slippery slope then should ANY potentially harmful behavior be outlawed??? That could include boating, bicycling, swimming, skiing, building a campfire... AGAIN - I am not disagreeing the premise of this law but with too much government interference and control over it's citizens.
Click to expand...

Right, parents with kids should be arrested if they smoke in the home with the children. Good point.

The point about drugs and rape is that some people will say "what I do within the confines of my home and car is my business". Not so say the laws against rape, murder, robbery, drug possession, etc. That was all I was saying. Simply excusing your careless, wreckless, harmless behavior around your children because you are within the confines of your personally owned space doesn't absolve you from responsilbity. You being the general smoking population.

Cal
 
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