We are using this blog to advocate for this bill and to provide information while raising awareness. We will be contacting key stakeholders as well as legislators and continue updating this blog with the information they provide us. The key stakeholders for this bill are families who smoke, tobacco companies, special interest groups, and healthcare providers. Key legislators involved are Delegate Morrissey who sponsored the bill, the chair of the House Militia, Police and Public Safety committee Delegate Beverly Sherwood, the speaker of the House Delegate William Howell, as well as Governor Bob McDonnell. Other legislators we could contact are members of the subcommittee that dealt specifically with this bill.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
The Plan
According to Americans for Nonsmokers Rights, "The air quality in a car where someone is smoking can reach nearly 10 times over the hazardous levels set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency." (W. Ott, N. Klepeis, and P. Switzer, Air Change Rates of Motor Vehicles and In-Vehicle Pollutant Concentrations from Secondhand Smoke. Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology, 2007) As a group, we unanimously support HB 186. The point of the bill is to protect children from second-hand smoke and being in toxic environments where they cannot remove themselves. As future healthcare providers, it is our duty to promote prevention and healthy behaviors. Specifically, keeping adults from smoking in motor vehicles with children present is one step closer to reducing the toxic effects on developing children.
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Group 4 is in support of HB 186. We agree with a lot of the points you have made about the importance of this bill; However, we have a few questions. How would this bill be enforced in less populated areas where there is limited law enforcement? Would this allow officers to pull a vehicle over as a primary or secondary offense? How would the officer verify the age of the child?
ReplyDeleteI always knew that smoking in general was bad for you, but was shocked to find out that smoking in cars can lead to hazardous levels of toxins! Children in the car are basically "trapped" in this environment which no places to escape to for fresh air.
ReplyDeleteGroup 8 fully supports this bill, but we foresee several potential problems with it. How are officers going to enforce this bill? This reminds me somewhat of the "no texting" law that went into effect. Many people still text and drive, but you hardly hear of anyone getting cited for it.
Perhaps one of the best ways to reduce the instances of adults smoking in cars with children, or even around children, is to get out and EDUCATE people of the harm that they are doing. If they want to continue smoking themselves, fin, but they need to understand the risk that they are putting children in from secondhand smoke.
Rachel- This bill is being written in as a secondary offense, so in order to be charged with this they must be stopped for a moving violation. We also identified that there would be a problem enforcing this in less populated areas because it is a secondary offense. The age of the child can be tricky to tell, which is why we believe it might need to be changed to 18 years old, however the officer could ask the child how old they are or simply be able to tell by looking at the child.
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