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Canadian Politics

Smoking in New Jersey

By arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
Monday, august 1, 2005

New Jersey assemblyman John McKeon is sponsoring a bill to ban smoking by automobile drivers. Under the proposed legislation, drivers caught puffing on cigarettes, pipes, or cigars while operating a motor vehicle will face a fine of up to $250.

although several jurisdictions are contemplating banning smoking in cars that children are riding in, there are currently no laws aimed specifically at drivers. The purpose of the bill, according to McKeon, is to cut down on the number of accidents that are caused by drivers who are distracted by the activity of smoking.

The assemblyman's proposal is one of the clearest examples of how the minds of those who wish to completely intrude into the lives of citizens, works.

The proposal really isn't about safety at all. New Jersey is one of the jurisdictions that have banned the use of hand-held cellular phone use while driving a motor vehicle. Yet smoking a cigarette cannot be compared to cell phone use. a driver who is speaking on a cell phone needs to have one hand off the steering wheel during the entire time he or she is on the phone and some of these telephone conversations can be quite lengthy. This is completely different than a smoker, who, in between taking puffs, can hold a cigarette and keep both hands on the wheel. and no one (or hardly anyone) constantly smokes in the same way that some people are constantly on the phone while they are driving. McKeon's legislation of course does not propose that drivers be penalized for not keeping both hands on the wheel.

The law really has nothing to do with health either. If the assemblyman was really concerned about the health of those who ride in automobiles, he would propose a bill that would ban smoking in vehicles outright. But his proposal does nothing to prevent a passenger from lighting up in a car even if there are three asthmatic children in the backseat.

The Cherry Hill Courier Post cited a study undertaken by the american automobile association. The aaa tracked 32,000 automobile accidents that occurred between 1995 and 1999 and of these accidents were cause at least in part by driver distraction. The study found that the number of accidents that were caused by a driver being distracted by smoking was 1 per cent. This was substantially lower than the 11 per cent of accidents that were attributable to the driver fiddling with the radio or changing CDs. Yet McKeon only wants a ban on smoking; his legislation does nothing to attempt to reduce the more serious cause of accidents by proposing the drivers be prohibited from touching their radios or CD changers while their vehicle is moving. Only smokers who are actually driving are targeted and they are only targeted for smoking; the proposal says nothing about those drivers who drink coffee, eat donuts or comb their hair or apply makeup or any other such activity while they are operating their vehicles.

McKeon's bill is not about health. It's not about road safety. It's really only about him.

McKeon's father died from emphysema and his proposals are nothing more than a not very well thought out mission to go after smokers. His law neither protects health nor improves road safety in any meaningful way. It is simply an abuse of power to satisfy a personal agenda.

Legislators like McKeon need to be watched. They have no compunction about trampling the rights of others to enact measures that serve no public good except make them feel better.

Hopefully the New Jersey assembly will have enough common sense to turf McKeon's silly egocentric bill.