SMOKING could be banned in cars.
The proposal is just one of a range of plans included in the Health and Social Services Department’s Guernsey tobacco-control strategy.
It also includes recommendations for the States to prepare further legislation to ban the import and sale of packs of 10 or fewer cigarettes, to make picture warnings on all packs imported into Guernsey compulsory, to ban tobacco advertising at the point of sale and to increase the excise on tobacco and tobacco products by a minimum of 3% a year up to 2013.
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8 Article Comments
Sir,
With all due respect, I think the States of Guernsey
are going over the top in their efforts in trying to stop
people from smoking.
They have already banned smoking in pubs, clubs, hotels,
resturants, and all other enclosed public places, and as
I am a smoker myself, I can exept that, people do not want
to smell my cigarette smoke whilst they are eating a meal,
But this idea of attempting to stop people smoking in
their cars, is in contrevention of my human rights to do
what I want in my own private property,
It’s my car, I own the the vehicle, I pay the insurance
on it, I pay the over-inflated fuel costs to run that
vehicle, and not the States of Guernsey, there-fore the
States have no rights to tell me what to do in it.
If they are prepared to cover at least three quarters of
the cost of running my vehicle in Guernsey, then they might
have some say in the matter, but until they do, then I
will continue to smoke in my own property, ie: my car!
What will be next? banning you from talking to your
passengers,? or might they, (the States) even attempt to
stop you smoking in your own home?.
States of Guernsey!,Why don’t you get a life? and
leave the smokers alone for a change? why not hit all
those people who go into town every weekend, get blind
drunk, and fight like cat and dog on our streets, and
mostly get let off with a slap on the wrist,
Cigarettes do not make people punch each others head’s in,
Cigarettes do not make people urinate all over the streets,
Cigarettes do not make people drive in a drunken manner,
Cigarettes do not make people cause any problems like this,
but alcohol does!.
There are more incidents of lawlessness caused by alcohol,
than there is from smoking a cigarette.
So give it a rest, if you must push the health of the
public issue so hard, have a swipe at the other health
issue that causes a lot of concern, “Alcohol”.
The States of Guernsey are turning our island into a
dictatorship, and for what? what purpose do they have in
mind, or do they even know why they are doing it? and
please don’t tell me it’s for the good of my health, it
doesn’t wash any more.
I wonder if any one else who smokes thinks as I do, I
would love to hear any other comments on this mattter,
Come on you Guern’s, you used to stick up for your selves
years ago, what’s happened? don’t let the Mamby Pamby Big
Brother States of Guernsey take away the very few
pleasures we have left.
Yours Sincerly D.J.Help
Another dent in our civil liberties, Stalin would be proud of you Roffey & co.
I would be extremely grateful if it were published by whichever relevant authority, the revenue brought in by the sale of tobacco within the island ~ if the relevant authority dares ~ unlikely I hear the good folk of Guernsey saying.
John Cooke
I don’t think we should go overboard in this smoking business.Great that restaurants and the food you eat therein is now untainted,but banning it in cars is going over the top!Only exception to this is if children are in that car.And WHO is going to enforce all this?No,lets leave good alone!
Personnaly I think any law that prevents people from smoking in cars that also contain children is a great idea.
If I get caught excercising my right to make a decision affecting only myself, as a competent adult, in my private property, I will only accept punishment should one of the overweight deputies be prosecuted for eating pies at the wheel.
Persecution of homosexuals, teenage mothers, religious groups or even the obese like this would never be tolerated. Besides, why should I be expected to obey a collective who have proved successful only in the obscene level of incompetence and lack of care with my tax money? They need to demonstrate a considerable improvement in competence, care and accountablility before we are expected to let them micromanage our lives, as even marcromanagement seems to be too much to ask for at the moment.
It is not unfair to say that if the States were even half as accountable as they should be, which is twice as much as they are - most members would be reluctant to stand again. Perhaps any deputies reading this may like to clarify for me how much fun it must be to spend other people’s hard-earned money with not even the slightest chance of being made responsible for your actions?
As a closing point - smoking whilst driving is no more dangerous than conversing with a passenger (whereas using a telephone has been proven to be the equivalent of being twice over the drink-drive limit). By extrapolation of that logic, then, we should all drive alone - on scooters (like Mr Roffey…). However, fatal accidents are much, much higher among those on two wheels than four, so how on God’s green Earth can this Proposal be passed off as a ’safety measure?’ However, I do agree that smoking whilst children are in the car should be prohibited; they are NOT protected by the ability to refuse passive smoking.
Deputies, put your own House in order before knocking on the door of mine.
One can say this of The States:
If Guernsey had trains, they would never be late.
The sooner smoking by drivers of motor vehicles is banned the better.
I’m less worried about secondary smoking by children, bad as that is, than by the dangers to other road users by the distraction caused to drivers by dropped lit cigarettes, hot ash blown back into drivers’ faces and the risk of other road users being struck by dog ends thrown out of moving cars.