Oregon. Senate votes to ban smoking in car with kids
SALEM, Ore. (AP) - The Oregon Senate has voted to make it illegal for adults to smoke in a car with children.
Violators would face a maximum fine of $250 for a first offense and $500 for subsequent offenses.
The Senate's 19-10 vote on Wednesday sends the measure to the House.
Proponents say second-hand smoke is harmful to children's health, and minors shouldn't be subjected to health hazards because of their parents' decision to smoke. They say smoke can be trapped inside a vehicle and pool in the back seat where children often sit.
Critics say the state shouldn't be limiting people's liberties or telling parents how to raise their children.
The violation would be a secondary offense, so drivers could only be ticketed if they were pulled over for another reason.
Violators would face a maximum fine of $250 for a first offense and $500 for subsequent offenses.
The Senate's 19-10 vote on Wednesday sends the measure to the House.
Proponents say second-hand smoke is harmful to children's health, and minors shouldn't be subjected to health hazards because of their parents' decision to smoke. They say smoke can be trapped inside a vehicle and pool in the back seat where children often sit.
Critics say the state shouldn't be limiting people's liberties or telling parents how to raise their children.
The violation would be a secondary offense, so drivers could only be ticketed if they were pulled over for another reason.
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I'm a smoker and a parent. My mom smoked in the car and in the house when I was a kid, and I could not stand it. Especially in the car. I always smoke outside my house, and do not smoke in my car. To those parents that are whining about rights... are you that selfish? How hard is it to pull into a parking lot or rest stop and smoke outside your car? Isn't it worth that small inconvenience for your children to be able to breathe clean air? Really it's sad this even needs to be a law, it should just be commonsense.
This is another fascist dictate by the growing nanny movement in the United States. I don't smoke, so this law won't affect me directly, but please understand there has NEVER been a definitive study proving second hand smoke has any negative health effect on people. A good statistician can poke holes in every study that claims second hand smoke is dangerous. When are people going to wake up to the fact that governments continually strip rights from people? They do not protect anyone's rights or freedoms.
@Gerald Cohail Yes, smoking is good for your health, second hand smoke even better. Keep on puffing! LOL
I am glad to see this law passed, its really weird and uncomfortable for me watching adults smoking in a car with kids. That being said, a secondary offense is about as practical as a square wheel. Why even bother passing a law that you cant enforce unless they do something else to be pulled over? Stupid, I wish lawmakers would grow some damn balls and stop pandering
My parents did not smoke, but the lady that babysat me did and she chain smoked in the car without even the decency to crack the window. Clearly, we reeked by the time we got to school.
I smoked for years, but would never smoke with a kid in the car, ridiculous.
It is sad that this has to be a law. There should be no fine these people should have their children moved. If they were endangering their child by giving them drugs or driving with the drunk in the car they would be taken away but giving them cancer i guess is A OK. This is not a nanny task this is protecting children who have no say in their parents exposing them to chemicals and poisons that can KILL them.Â
Surely Oregon has more important things to worry about than the welfare of children?
Smoke with the windows down.
I was a smoker for many years and I NEVER smoked in the car with my kids. It just astounds me that some parents think that it is ok to actually smoke in a car with kids. Unfortunately, its because of people like them that lack any type of common sense (or parental responsibility)  that laws like this have to be passed.Â
Good. My ex-husband smoked in the car with my daughter when he had his visitation weekends, and she eventually developed allergies and asthma. I can't prove that they're related, obviously, but it's long since been proven that smoking isn't good for your health. I couldn't do a damn thing about it at the time, because he wasn't abusing her in any way that violated the law. A good parent won't subject their child to harm.
Now I'd like to see Washington follow suit. I'm sorry to those of you who feel your rights are being trampled on, but if you're the kind of person who would smoke in an enclosed car with your children, then you're obviously not too worried about the rights of your children to breathe. Somebody's got to protect them.
Oregon must have solved all their real problems in order to take on this nanny task. Â I guess WA is done dealing with real problems too, apparently Inslee and the Senate are going to distract us from the budget and DOT disasters by saving us from global warming...
@HawkEye Interesting how this is a story about oregon, and somehow became a law about washington, and then turned into a political circus. Nice going dude, sad that you live such a boring life.
what if i'm non smoking driver and kids in the back are smoking?
@bartle_doo Why would you let kids smoke in your car? You stop, tell them to put the smokes out and get them to put them in the trash before you keep driving. If their parents aren't there, you are responsible for what they are doing in your vehicle. If a kid in your car tosses trash out the window, you get in trouble for it, and it's already illegal for kids to smoke, so yeah. You do the math. Contributing to the delinquency of a minor, anyone?
@spacegoddess
i've tried to get them to quit but have you ever tried taking things from a 5, 9, and 11 yr old..? Good Luck...
@bartle_doo everyone gets a citing and loses their driving privilege for a year, plus $10000 fine and 2 years probation
@Lrry*x*K
me the driver cited too..? At least i wont allow them to throw out cig butts...my five yr old needs constant reminding but i'm firm on that...
You know what? I have been in the back of a car with someone smoking, and it is absolutely sickening! Can't stand it! But to actually pass a law on that? Seriously? Police can seriously afford to enforce that? Come on!
@Zoso secondary offense so yeah
@Lrry*x*K @Zoso Don't be fooled, everything that was sold to us as being a "secondary offense" quickly morphed into a primary reason to pull over and ticket, i.e. Seatbelts, Cell-Phones...
Anyone ever met someone who was addicted to secondhand smoke?
@burton It has nothing to do with the secondhand smoke being addicting. It's not. It's also very harmful and kills hundreds of thousands of people every year, and THAT is why there are laws against smoking in public places in so many areas in this country. You don't have the right to harm others with your own choices. I don't like nanny laws that tell people how to raise their children, but at the same time, parents have no right to choose to do things around children that they know will cause them harm, when they don't have to do them around their child. It's a choice, not a need. You don't have the right to screw up a person just because they are your minor child. You can get in trouble for giving pornography to your child, or giving them (or letting them use) alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs. You also get in trouble for beating your child hard enough to mark them or bruise them. These are all things that have been determined to be harmful or detrimental to a child's health and development, regardless of if they were previously considered okay to do. Secondhand cigarette smoke has a place among these things, at least in an enclosed space like a car (where, even if the windows are down, the smoke can still drift back in and collect in the backseat).Â
This shouldn't NEED to be a law for this. There really should not. But for some reason there are parents out there who will actually stand up and say "If I want to expose my child to secondhand smoke even though I don't HAVE to, and even though I know it is harmful, well, that's my right; it's my child and I'll decide how I want to raise them." What baffles me is that you don't HAVE to smoke constantly. It takes only a few minutes to stop and have a few puffs, if you're on a long trip. If you're on a short one, can you seriously not wait a few minutes for your cigarette? And if that is the case, maybe it's time to say "Hey, I'm so addicted to this cancer-causing agent that I am choosing to cause harm to my child's health with it rather than wait a short while to use it. Maybe I should seek help for this."
@spacegoddess
The same evidence that suggests an individual has died due to inhalation of secondhand smoke can also be used to suggest that an individual has died due to inhaling excessive flatulence, or car exhaust, or any other airborne particle that could be harmful if inhaled in quantity.
Also realize that I don't smoke so I'm not trying to defend a destructive habit.@spacegoddessÂ
There has never been a documented death from second hand smoke...
@burton No but I know how second hand smoke affected my health.... I had an ear infection from the time I was a week old until I was in my teens almost every month. I have had tubes in my ears more than a dozen times, and have had both eardrums rupture numerous times. I also started getting migraine headaches at the age of 6 from the smoke. I really wish it didn't have to come down to the police/govenment to keep kids healthy but so many parents choose to ignore warnings about how bad it is for their kids. Â
I can almost see police officers rolling their eyes at this law. So now they have to watch for people smoking in their cars and then pull them over to check for kids in the car? I bet they have all kinds of time to enforce a law like this.
It says the violation would be a secondary offense so the drive would have to be pulled over for something else. They are not actively looking for smokers.
@Michelle I should have read it more closely. It just seemed so ridiculous, I guess I couldn't focus on it anymore.
@Michelle Thank you for paying attention! Seriously.
Intrusion into the private affairs of others is always unlawful, however, the children are being subjected to something they can't agree/disagree with - a known health issue. I don't believe it is government that can be the parents, however.
This is assinine... hopefully, it won't pass. It is more government intrusion into what we do. Next, will be car stereo's, and some other stupid thing, all in an effort to "protect the children"
Is there such a thing as being over-protective? Doesn't that do just as much damage to a kid as not being protective enough.. from one extreme to the other.. It is all about control, and taking our liberties, ONE LITTLE PIECE AT A TIME..
@Mr. H This isn't the same thing as loud sounds that CAN cause hearing problems. This is secondhand smoke that is known to kill hundreds of thousands of people every year, and parents are choosing to confine their children in cars full of the stuff when they drive down the road (instead of maybe waiting a few minutes or stopping for a smoke break). It's not over-protective for the state to say that parents don't have a right to harm their children in this way. They already passed laws against parents giving their children drugs or pornography, or beating them with tools or hard enough to leave marks, because they determined these are harmful things, and that parents don't have the right to harm their children. That's why they go in and pull kids out of abusive homes. That is not the right of a parent, to abuse their child. They are supposed to nurture them and raise them to be healthy and caring individuals. That is not typified by someone who smokes in a car with kids inside and shrugs and says it is their right to do so because they are their own children and they can raise them as they please. That's not healthy or caring. It's callous and selfish.
@Mr. HÂ In most cases I would agree with you, but this is a situation of young kids being subjected to a known health hazzard because their parents either don't care about their kids health, or are just to stupid to care.
The violation would be a secondary offense, so drivers could only be ticketed if they were pulled over for another reason.
Then whats the point? You can't pull them over if you see them smoking with children in the car? But if they're pulled over you can write them a ticket if they don't put the cigarette before the cop gets to the window?Â
Secondary violation laws............................... just don't make sense to me at all anymore.
they always start with a "secondary offense" and then a couple sessions later it becomes a primary offense... why not also make it illegal to drive with your windows down with children, since cars pollute, and roads are full of cars, so you're poisoning your children driving down the road with the windows down..Â
oh and while you're busy saving the children.. where is the bill to ban audio equipment in cars, because distracted stereo tuners might wreck, which could harm a child.. and ya know. if it saves just one life.. all intrusive governmental laws are worth it.Â
@everyoneelse And I suppose your that person who wants  smoking allowed on planes, and smoking allowed in restaurants also?
@Seahawker
Ive never smoked.
I think smoking in bars or restaurants should be up to the owner of said restaurant or bar.
@burton Agreed. What they have found though is that profits have gone up since the laws took effect so I imagine most all of them would elect to remain non smoking.
@burton I hate cig smoke- but I have never fully agreed with the law to ban smoking in bars, since only adults are in there it should be the choice of the owner/manager as to allow smoking or not.Â
While I agree with this law, I think there is far too much "nanny" government occurring these days!
@aintno1special I agree that the govenment has become to much of a nanny, but at the same time who else is going to protect the kids whose parents don't seem to give a crap? To this day when i am around cig smoke I get a migraine headache, if I spend more than a few hours around it I end up with an ear infection- I do my best to avoid it, but a 3 yr old child can't avoid mommy and daddy smoking in a car. It is so sickening to see a car door open and smoke pour out then watch a parent open the back and get a child out of a car seat.Â
@MomOf2Â @aintno1special It infuriates me to see a person smoking in a vehicle with kids in it..so yes I can see a reason for this law! I just wonder where is the line of control in the law.