• March 28, 2024

Scotland driving smoking ban

 Scotland driving smoking ban

Campaigners have criticised a new law being introduced in Scotland today that will prohibit tobacco smoking in cars carrying children.

“The regulations are patronising and unnecessary, said Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest.

“Very few adults smoke in cars with children. Smokers know it’s inconsiderate and the overwhelming majority don’t do it.”

Clark added that so few people smoked when there was a child in their car that, for enforcement agencies, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

“In England only one person has been caught and fined since an identical law was introduced last year,” he said.

“The law is a classic example of virtue signalling. It’s utterly pointless and a complete waste of time and resources that could be better spent elsewhere.”

Meanwhile, the chairman of the British Medical Association in Scotland was quoted in a story in TheNational.scot as saying that the ban should be extended to all smoking in vehicles.

“An outright ban on smoking in vehicles would ensure that adults and particularly vulnerable adults, who may be unable to object to others smoking while they are present, are also protected,” said Dr. Peter Bennie.

“Doctors witness first-hand the devastating effects of smoking-related harms on their patients.

“Children are still developing physically and, as a result, are more susceptible to the harmful effects of second-hand smoke.

“When someone smokes in a vehicle, it creates a concentrated source of exposure to second-hand smoke.”

The Smoking Prohibition (Children in Motor Vehicles) (Scotland) Act 2016 was introduced by the-then Liberal Democrat Member of the Scottish Parliament Jim Hume, and was passed unanimously by the parliament last December.

Those detected smoking in private vehicles with a young person on board face an on-the-spot fixed penalty of £100, or a fine of up to £1,000 should the case go to court.