WTF?

Man nailed for smoking in car
But cop watches as 15-year-old passenger lights up
By PETE FISHER, SUN MEDIA

Cop predicts people will 'snap' under new smoking law

PORT HOPE -- A Port Hope man is the second person in Ontario charged under a new law that prohibits smoking in vehicles carrying children.
And while the 20-year-old man was waiting to be issued his ticket after being pulled over yesterday, his 15-year-old female passenger got out of the vehicle and lit up a cigarette.
Port Hope Police Const. Tammie Hartford said she could only watch in frustration as the 15-year-old smoked.
"She was the reason why I pulled the vehicle over," she said. "She was under the age (of 16)."
Under provincial law, it's only illegal to sell or supply cigarettes to anyone under the age of 19, but there's no law prohibiting a person under 19 from smoking.
Hartford noticed the vehicle travelling on Victoria St. N.
There were four people in the vehicle and she said she recognized one as being under the age of 16.
Hartford said she saw the driver smoking and watched him flick the ashes out twice before pulling the car over.
Under the new Smoke-Free Ontario Amendment Act 2008, which came into effect on Jan. 21, smoking is prohibited in a motor vehicle with persons under the age of 16.
The fine, a provincial offence, carries a $125 ticket, plus court costs that drive the total up to $155. If a person fights the fine in court and loses, the fine can jump to $250.
The new rules are part of an effort to protect children from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke.
Two weeks ago, a 53-year-old Kingston man was the first person in the province to be charged.
Officers were stopping vehicles at a roadside spot check in Napanee looking for drunk drivers when they discovered a man smoking with a child in the rear seat.



Although I agree that people shouldn't smoke in the car when a child is present, I don't agree that the government and the police have the right to get involved. This is madness.