Smoking ban in cars when driving with young children: do you agree?

Smoking in vehicles exposes young children to notably “substantial amounts of tobacco smoke” say health professionals in a letter to MPs. Photograph: Alamy

MPs will vote Monday on no matter whether to back a ban on smoking in autos when young children are current. Divisions in Tory and Liberal Democrat ranks indicate Labour help is most likely to carry the ban by way of the Commons.

If the Commons backs the amendment to the Youngsters and Families Bill, the Well being Secretary will have the power to bring in a ban in England, empowering the government to make it a criminal offence for drivers to fail to avert smoking in their autos when youngsters are existing.

Final week, much more than 700 well being specialists wrote an open letter to MPs urging them to back the measure.

The shadow public wellness minister, Luciana Berger, explained 300,000 GP appointments every yr consequence from kids suffering from the results of secondhand smoke, like these who have had to endure passive smoking in the back of a vehicle.

The letter writes that smoking in automobiles exposes youngsters to specifically “higher quantities of tobacco smoke” and there is now a consensus that kids must be protected from this kind of pointless hazards

Bans on smoking in autos carrying kids presently exist in countries which includes Australia, Canada, South Africa and the US.

What do you believe? Should it be a criminal offence to avert smoking in your automobile when kids are existing? Do you consider the law has any possibility of getting enforced? Vote and share your view in the comment thread under

Smoking ban in cars when driving with young children: do you agree?