I met my husband eleven years ago, when he was stationed at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Those specific circumstances are a story for another time, but suffice it to say, it was a world completely different from the one I inhabited at the time.
Steve's Platoon Sgt. at that time was a completely unforgettable character by the name of SFC Coulter. Coulter was a hard-drinking, chain-smoking, fast-living, blunt-talking paratrooper from Oklahoma. He had no problem voicing his opinions. A Coulter rant usually began with a long draw from the ever-present Marlboro, followed by the trademark Coulterism of, "you gotta be f@#king kidding me! Let me tell you what, bud ..."
To this day, the Coulteresque rant remains one of our favourite inside jokes. When either of us hear something completely ridiculous, Steve and I mimic the long draw from an invisible cigarette and say, "you gotta be kidding me!"
That was my reaction to this story. A measure has been introduced in the New Jersey State Legislature to ban all smoking in all vehicles.
Now, I wear the badge of "Nicotine Nazi" with great pride. No-one dares to smoke in my presence. My parents credit my incessant nagging for their successful endeavour at quitting smoking some 25 years ago. I believe that there is a special place in hell reserved for those who inflict second-hand smoke on their children in this day and age, knowing all that we do about its effects on their tiny innocent lungs. Even I find this measure to be ridiculous.
New Jersey's proposed legislation is not aimed at protecting anyone's respiratory health. Rather, it is being touted as a measure to improve highway safety. Specifically, the bill's sponsor, John McKeon, "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." (emphasis added)
Why target a behaviour which is responsible for only one percent of the problem??
Then again, it's hardly a surprising move in a state which once banned soft-boiled eggs.
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1 comment:
You gotta be kidding me!! OMG!
Now, I used to be a smoker. My father is still a smoker (and believe me, we are better off for it. My father without his nicotine, horrible. Just give him his cigs so we can all have some peace). I support not smoking around children. I support not smoking in certain public areas. But in the privacy of your own car in the name of highway safety is a bit extreme. Cell phones are more dangerous (guilty of that, too). EATING is more dangerous, but they aren't banning drive up windows (food, not liquor). Sometimes, the gov't has gone too far.
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