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

  • UK road safety plan announced
    July 18, 2019
    A new road safety plan for the UK has been announced. This includes a major package of measures to reduce the number of people killed and injured on roads. The action plan is designed to improve safety for people at every stage of life – from infants in car seats to those with years of driving experience. It includes increased penalties for failing to wear a seatbelt one of 74 measures being considered. Failure to wear a seatbelt could result in penalty points as well as fines, under new plans t
  • Put down that phone behind the wheel
    January 27, 2017
    The recent news that the road casualty rate in the Netherlands has seen an increase should ring alarm bells in many areas. It is worth bearing in mind that the Netherlands has some of the safest roads in the world. But the latest research carried out by Dutch insurance umbrella body Verbond van Verzekeraars shows that the road fatality rate grew from 570 in 2014 to 621 in 2015, while the number of road crashes increased by 6.5% to 841,000 in 2015. Nor is this trend limited to the Netherlands: the problem
  • Put down that phone behind the wheel
    January 27, 2017
    The recent news that the road casualty rate in the Netherlands has seen an increase should ring alarm bells in many areas. It is worth bearing in mind that the Netherlands has some of the safest roads in the world. But the latest research carried out by Dutch insurance umbrella body Verbond van Verzekeraars shows that the road fatality rate grew from 570 in 2014 to 621 in 2015, while the number of road crashes increased by 6.5% to 841,000 in 2015. Nor is this trend limited to the Netherlands: the problem
  • Distracted driving report from European nations
    April 16, 2018
    There are now calls from right across Europe to increase education, enforcement and penalties for distracted driving. Mike Woof reports Surveys across Europe have revealed worrying attitudes to the use of mobile devices while driving, according to a report by the European Transport and Safety Commission (ETSC). Campaigners are calling for better enforcement, higher penalties, technological solutions and education to raise awareness of the risks. A survey in the Czech Republic found that 36% of drivers a