Skip to main content

Campaigners support smoking ban in all cars

The UK charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) believes smoking should be banned in cars because of concerns that children inhale second-hand smoke if their parents smoke while driving. Such a ban already exists in the US, South Africa and various parts of Canada, although in the UK it currently only applies to commercial vehicles. It is understood that increasing the ban to include smoking in all cars would be supported by the road safety charity, Brake. It thinks smoking while driving often means that
July 12, 2012 Read time: 1 min
The UK charity 6177 Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) believes smoking should be banned in cars because of concerns that children inhale second-hand smoke if their parents smoke while driving.

Such a ban already exists in the US, South Africa and various parts of Canada, although in the UK it currently only applies to commercial vehicles. It is understood that increasing the ban to include smoking in all cars would be supported by the road safety charity, 3963 Brake. It thinks smoking while driving often means that people are not concentrating thus causing dangerous driving.

However, the smokers' lobby group Forest argues that the ban would be unnecessarily intrusive and questions how it would be enforced.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Developments in hybrid vehicles
    February 27, 2012
    There is an array of future vehicle solutions in development - Mike Woof reports. Ever since Henry Ford's Model T showed that the motor car could provide transport for ordinary people rather than being an exclusive toy of the rich, vehicle numbers have exploded. In every country around the world, vehicle ownership continues to grow.
  • Tackling the UK's traffic congestion
    February 28, 2012
    The biggest problem on UK roads is congestion, and there is no shortage of ideas as to how it should be tackled. Patrick Smith reports. Congestion (and how to relieve it), along with safety, are among the top priorities facing those responsible for looking after the UK's roads. Road pricing, car-share lanes, greener vehicle initiatives and alternative methods of transport such as buses, trams and rail are all part of the approach, but prior to the current economic climate the nation's love affair with the c
  • Young Driver Risk
    April 16, 2018
    Police in the US state of Ohio recently found themselves in a high-speed pursuit involving a vehicle taken without its owner’s consent. The chase lasted for around one hour and the vehicle hit speeds of up to 160km/h during the pursuit, which covered a distance of around 72km in all between Cleveland and Milan. Officers managed to box the car in and bring it to a halt, without anyone being injured. The driver was a 10-year-old boy who took his mother’s car, the second time that the lad had done this in just
  • The hands-free debate is just one side of driver distraction
    August 13, 2019
    A debate about hands-free and hand-held phone use is welcome, but if we want to improve road safety and stop killing people it misses the point, explains Shaun Helman, TRL's chief scientist The Transport Committee’s report on driving and mobile phones is to be welcomed, for focusing attention on a pressing and growing road safety issue. As someone who provided evidence to the committee, I don’t need convincing that the use of a mobile device while controlling a vehicle is something that must be considered