New Jersey sucks, and now I have proof.

[Quiggs]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8697348

Ashtrays have been disappearing in cars like fins on Cadillacs, and so could smoking while driving in New Jersey, under a measure introduced in the Legislature.

Although the measure faces long odds, it still has smokers incensed and arguing it’s a Big Brother intrusion that threatens to take away one of the few places they can enjoy their habit.

“The day a politician wants to tell me I can’t smoke in my car, that’s the day he takes over my lease payments,” said John Cito, a financial planner from Hackensack with a taste for $20 cigars.

Those cigars, pipes and cigarettes would become no-nos for drivers. Offenders would be stung with a fine of up to $250, under the measure, whose sponsor said it’s designed more to improve highway safety than protect health.

What do you think — would a ban be fair?

Some states, including New Jersey, have considered putting the brakes on smoking while children are in the car. But none have gone for an outright ban on smoking while driving, according to Washington, D.C.-based Action on Smoking and Health, the country’s oldest anti-tobacco organization.

Smokers, feeling like easy targets, say enough already. They argue they’ve been forced outside office buildings, run off the grounds of public facilities, and asked to pony up more in per-pack excise taxes when states feel a budget squeeze.

“With smoking, it’s becoming increasingly fashionable to target legislation or prohibitions,” said George Koodray, a member of the Metropolitan Cigar Society, a 100-strong group that meets in Paterson for dinner and a smoke.

Distracted drivers
Assemblyman John McKeon, a tobacco opponent whose father died of emphysema, sponsored the legislation. He cites a AAA-sponsored study on driver distractions in which the automobile association found that of 32,000 accidents linked to distraction, 1 percent were related to smoking.

The measure, co-sponsored by Assemblywoman Lorretta Weinberg, a fellow Democrat, was introduced last month just before lawmakers’ summer break. It faces some improbable odds for passing.

Some lawmakers may fear the bill is frivolous compared with more pressing issues like taxes, said political analyst David Rebovich.

And there’s this to consider: Traffic safety groups acknowledge motorists now widely ignore the state’s year-old law against using hand-held cell phones, so why would smoking be any different?

Mitchell Sklar, of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, said police departments may balk at enforcing such a law. “In general, we’d rather not try to incrementally look at every single behavior and make those a violation,” he said.

While I don't smoke, and think it's the absolute most disgusting thing one can do, this is completely ludicrous...

[taz_rocks_miami]

You car is your property just as much as your house, it's rediculous,the police need a search warrant to search your car but now the government will be able to force you not to smoke in your property. This is going too far.

Maybe you should change your user name to NJ_Sucks

[IWantAnAudiRS6]

Even though it makes the car stink like hell, there's no good reason to apprehend people for smoking while driving, except for maybe when they're smoking pot.

Live and let live, 'cuz the smokers will die before us anyway

[taz_rocks_miami]

Originally Posted by IWantAnAudiRS6

Even though it makes the car stink like hell, there's no good reason to apprehend people for smoking while driving, except for maybe when they're smoking pot.

Live and let live, 'cuz the smokers will die before us anyway

Soon they'll be arresting people for talking to their passengers

[deffenbaugh03]

Personally I don't think smoking ANYWHERE should be legal.

[my porsche]

"hey bob howve you been?"

"oh im fi-oh shit the cops saw us talking!"

"uhh ohhh!"






i think as long as the thing your doing in your car is legal, you should be able to do it in your car, unless its sex, then at least pull over

[Niko_Fx]

Drivers don't bother me, but smoking in my university should be banned. That'd be awesome.

[Matra et Alpine]

Less distractions in the car, safer driving.

Next it will be removing the cup holders, cd players and kids.

I'm OK with the last one

[my porsche]

isnt your daugter old enough to drive herself peter? please tell me you dont still use a car seat?!?!

[IWantAnAudiRS6]

Originally Posted by Niko_Fx

Drivers don't bother me, but smoking in my university should be banned. That'd be awesome.

No more pot for you...

[Rockefella]

You guys complain, yet I fkn live here. HAHAHAHA, if they do this 18+ year olds who enjoy the occasional cigarrette (like I do) will go insane.

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by Rockefella

You guys complain, yet I fkn live here. HAHAHAHA, if they do this 18+ year olds who enjoy the occasional cigarrette (like I do) will go insane.

so you're telling us that nobody under 21 drinks alcohol ?

[Rockefella]

Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine

so you're telling us that nobody under 21 drinks alcohol ?

Of course we do. Me/friends drank about 80% of the nights this summer.

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by Rockefella

Of course we do. Me/friends drank about 80% of the nights this summer.

so I'm not sure why you'd bother about complaining about smoking. The American drink laws dont' seem to worry you unduly

[Quiggs]

What wasn't explained in the article is that it would be a secondary offense. So the police couldn't pull you over for smoking. But if you were caught speeding, and you happen to have a cigarette lit at the time... Add another ticket.

Down with Dirty Jerzey.