Oregon lawmakers consider smoking ban in cars
01/31/2009
Good Freakin Lord In Heaven!
Associated Press
After banning all smoking in Oregon bars and taverns, lawmakers say cars with children as passengers may be next.
A proposed law would carry a $90 fine for the first offense and a $360 penalty the third time an adult is caught blowing smoke in a vehicle with anyone younger than 17 in the front or back seat.
The proposed law got its first public hearing Friday as legislators, physicians and public health officials agreed the state must protect children's health.
Four states — Arkansas, California, Maine and Louisiana — have similar laws. The Washington Legislature is considering one.
But questions remained about whether House Bill 2385 pries too deeply into Oregonians private lives, not to mention how such a law would be enforced.
Dr. Donald Austin, incoming president of the Oregon Public Health Association, argued that children whose lungs are still developing are especially vulnerable to secondhand smoke. Exposure can lead to ear infections, asthma, bronchopneumonia and other illnesses, he said.
State Rep. Chuck Riley, D-Hillsboro, said the law already requires children to be strapped into infant car seats and booster seats. If government has any role it has to be protecting people who cannot protect themselves, he said.
But state Rep. Jim Weidner, R-Yamhill, told the House Transportation Committee that educating parents about the risks to their children would be more effective.
State Rep. Vicki Berger, R-Salem, asked whether such a law would prompt people to dial 9-1-1 every time they saw a parent smoking in the car.
"We have a lot of serious criminal issues," she said. "You put law enforcement in a bind."
But supporters say the laws on seat belts and child safety seats have not caused problems.
"When you declare something illegal," said Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, "it really does get peoples attention."
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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com
2 comments:
I wish there had been this law when I was a kid, instead I had to breathe in my father's smoke in the car and at home and not say anything. Yet you say smokers are the victims here?
I understand the law and am sympathetic to its merit but its just the condition that is so disturbing....How in God's name did we all survive in good health to today as we all likely suffered moreso from smokers then than we do now and do we really need some Politician with a sense of self-righteousness to force a law on us to do something we would likely do anyway?
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