Driving Under the Influence of Tobacco

Melanie Colburn | July 25, 2005

Those unhappy DCists who are battling a proposed prohibition on cigarettes in restaurants and taverns better not hit the high road for New Jersey unless they plan to pack picket signs. The "Liberty and Prosperity" state is considering a ban on smoking while driving.

As New Jersey resident John Cito put it:

The day a politician wants to tell me I can't smoke in my car, that's the day he takes over my lease payments.

Even police chiefs in New Jersey are questioning the efficacy of such a law in preventing vehicular smoking, as the one-year-old ban against handheld cell phones hasn't deterred many drivers. Not to fear, New Jerseyites already seem at least as prepared as D.C. denizens to blow smoke back at the banners.