A Breath of Fresh Air

So my cousin wrote and asked me if, in essence, she was entitled to drive on a nice day with her windows rolled down, without having to breath the cigarette smoke emitting from the car in front of (or next to) her.  This is an interesting question, given all of the recent legislation regarding no smoking in public places, such as restaurants, hospitals, airplanes, airports, and other public use locations.  Streets that we all have to share together, and when we are virtually trapped in our cars, theoretically are the same sort of public location.  Additionally, with all of the public outcry about talking on cell phones while driving, and TEXTING while driving, I've never understood how smoking while driving is o.k.

Talk about a distraction.  Nicotine is a DRUG and alters consciousness - that is why people smoke, after all.  I won't get into the politics of cigarettes; that would take a novel.  Suffice it to say that smoking while driving probably won't change anytime soon, however, it is a valid argument to question being subjected to others' smoke while driving.  Maybe that is enough to get our legislators' attention and perhaps eventually get the law changed.  I like the analogy of driving to airplanes, and the elimination of smoking on airplanes.  If you can't get away from the smoke, then it shouldn't be allowed.  When a person is driving, and in traffic, en route to a specific destination, they can't get away from the smoke coming in their windows from the cars around them.  Even if they roll up their windows, it still comes in through the vents.  We've all experienced that, too!  It's nauseating, to those of us that are especially affected adversely to cigarette smoke.  Smoking has become the exception, rather than the rule; make it illegal while driving, just as it is on airplanes, and in other public places, other than in designated smoking areas.  That way, if someone doesn't want to be around it, they can avoid the designated smoking area.  Give us all a breath of fresh air when we are driving on a nice spring day, or any other time, for that matter.