Some of us who grew up riding in cars filled with tobacco smoke survived no worse for the wear on our lungs. Others among us aren't so sure - it's not easy to obtain greater exposure to secondhand smoke than kids getting in a car with a smoker. If secondhand smoke is even fractionally as dangerous as many health experts contend, carting kids in smoke-filled cars is a bad idea.
So is a proposed law to ban it.
Such a law would be impossible to enforce in any meaningful way. Police could act only when presented a “clear and unobstructed view” of a person smoking in a vehicle carrying a minor. Even during daylight hours, that would be a hit-or-miss proposition, mostly miss.
Any child exposed to smoke in a car by parents or guardians undoubtedly lives in a household infused with smoke. For that matter, tobacco smoke is but one of myriad environmental hazards, from trans fat in cookies to Zonolite insulation in the attic, all well worth avoiding. Only parents have any practical ability to protect their children from most dangers. Parents have the greatest incentive to protect their offspring and they generally can be considered competent to do so. State intervention ought to be limited to cases of clear and present danger to the child.
Of course, legislation such as HB653 isn't really designed to be effectively enforced. That's why the proposed fine is a maximum of $50 and the violation not even rated a misdemeanor. The law is mostly supposed to send a signal, to underscore society's - or at least the Legislature's - disapproval. The Montana Code Annotated is thickened considerably through the proliferation of laws designed to convey conventional wisdom.
It's not a good idea to subject your child to smoke - in a car or elsewhere. For that matter, it's not a good idea for you to smoke at all.
But the distinction between ill-advised and illegal is worth maintaining, if for no other reason than it's simply not possible - nor even the government's job - to mandate individual prudence.
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