New take on old problem

Italy is mulling a ban on tobacco smoking in private automobiles, according to a Xinhua News Agency story.

The country already bans smoking in vehicles for hire, such as taxis, and in private vehicles when a pregnant woman or a person under the age of 12 is present.

But people are divided on the latest measure to be proposed.

Advocates of the ban claim it would help avoid health problems related to smoking, while also decreasing traffic risks associated with drivers being distracted while smoking.

Fabio Galli, a road- and traffic-issues analyst with the consumer organization Codacons, was said to have told Xinhua that the issue presented a new take on a very old problem, which is how to balance the rights of an individual’s freedom to make personal choices and the desire to make changes that benefit the public at large.

Galli said the proposal was in the “earliest stages” of passage, and that it had several apparent flaws. “The first question I have is how it would be enforced,” Galli said. “There’s also the question of whether this is the kind of issue where the government should be involved.”

Oliviero Fiorini, a political affairs consultant with ABS Securities, said a law limiting smoking in vehicles would probably be treated as government overreach if questioned by courts. “We see a few examples of the government trying to incentivize a kind of moral code,” he said in an interview.

Fiorini said that if the goal was to reduce smoking, it would be more efficient to raise taxes on cigarettes or to outlaw them altogether. If the goal was to remove distractions from drivers, then rules should be introduced also in respect of mobile-phone use in vehicles.