BMA meeting: BMA votes in favour of banning smoking in cars

A person should be banned from smoking while driving a vehicle, the BMA conference decided today, in the interests of both health and road safety.

Despite possible enforcement problems, representatives agreed with the proposer of the motion, Douglas Noble of the Public Health Conference, that smoking in cars was the next frontier in the battle against tobacco. He said that the toxic potential of smoke inside cars was 27 times higher than in the home, and 20 times higher than in public houses (where it is now banned).

Children were those at greatest risk, and polls had shown that 25% of them were afraid to ask the driver to stop smoking. Polls also showed that almost three quarters of the public supported a ban. It was time, he …