If found smoking with a child in your car, be aware that you may be fined.
Reports indicate that the Virginia Beach Police Department has been giving out $100 fines to parents who were caught smoking with a child in their vehicle.
While many people are applauding this new initiative, others think that it’s actually a violation of their rights.
These parents seem to think that smoking with a child in your car is any different to ordering them fast good or allowing them to watch television for hours!
They say that all of these things are not great and unhealthy for our kids, yet we let them do it anyway.
Critics are basically asking – should we be fined for all of our other bad parenting decisions?
A Virginia Beach police officer recently issued a $100 ticket to a driver who was smoking a cigarette with a child in the car.
Protect your children and keep $100 in your pocket! #NoSmoking #WeAreWatching pic.twitter.com/fH42lIfHap
— VBPD Traffic Safety (@VBPDTraffic) May 8, 2018
The police department posted a picture of the ticket on Twitter, writing: “Protect your children and keep $100 in your pocket! #NoSmoking #WeAreWatching.
Smoking in a vehicle with a child under the age of 8 has in fact been in illegal in Virginia since 2016, but news of the driver’s citation sparked a nerve with many on social media.
Since the hype, the Virginia Beach Police Department has issued roughly 23 tickets similar in nature.
Many have taken to social media accounts to express their disappointment and frustration with this. Some have said, “So when are you going to start ticketing people for smoking in their own home with their kids present? I’m not a smoker but this is unacceptable. Your vehicle is your private property.”
Another person wrote, “I want to see officers NOT on computers, cell phones, and with distracting radios on. #SaveLives.”
Yet another reason I left Virginia. Nanny state looking to make a buck from the serfs. Do you still pull people over for saying a naughty word on the strip?
— 8BitSloth (@8BitSlothiness) May 17, 2018This person said, “But it’s okay to take children through a fast-food drive-thru and feed them garbage. That concerns me more than cigarette smoke. The government needs to worry about more important things. Take money away from the parent and who will suffer? Seriously, why are we so eager for the government to be a part of everything we do?”
But here’s a thought:
Are parents now required to carry their childrens birth certificates around or feel that they are being forced to give up this information?
— JHSD (@samora_jennifer) May 16, 2018
Do you agree with this law?