Illinois Bill Passes That Bans Smoking In Cars If Passengers Are Under 18
WGN - Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed legislation Friday, which prohibits smoking in vehicles with anyone under 18.
According to Bill HB2276, it will be illegal to inhale, exhale, burn or carry a lighted cigarette, cigar, pipe, weed, plant, regulated narcotic or other combustible substance in a motor vehicle containing a person under 18.
The bill also states prohibiting smoking regardless of whether the vehicle is in motion, at rest or has its windows down.
Anyone who violates the new law will receive a maximum fine of $100 for the first offense. The second offense is not to exceed $250.
Let’s just get this part out of the way – everybody agrees that this is probably a good law for everyone involved, right? I feel like I can say that without having to sound like a wuss and go into how harmful smoking and second hand smoke is, yada yada. You get the point.
HOWEVER, is it weird that I kinda feel like being in one of your friends parents cars while they were ripping heaters was part of childhood? Like in a way when I was riding in the back seat of my buddy Kevin’s conversion van on the way to play St. Juliana at Brooks Park in football it made me fucking ready to go. Almost like a modern day smelling salts of some sorts. You had the fall air, that tailpad under your ass, and that waft of Marlboro Red to let you know that it was time to crack skulls.
The biggest losers in it all are clearly the High School kids though. You mean to tell me that tobacco has a 21 year age limit, you’re only supposed to have one kid in your car, and now you get hit with another ticket if you hit the vape and your buddy in the car is 17? That’s tough. I would say I feel bad for you, but the fact that you have Uber nowadays when we had to rough it on our own or have our damn parents pick us up kinda evens this out. Just stay out of Park Ridge or Norridge/all these other suburbs whose cops are going to take this super seriously and you should be alright.