Strong public support for smokefree cars

30 May 2014

Strong public support for smokefree cars

A new survey conducted for Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) by UMR shows over 90 per cent of New Zealanders back a law change on smoking in cars with children.

Respondents were asked if they agreed or disagreed with ‘smoking should be banned in cars carrying children younger than 18 years of age’.

Ninety one percent of respondents ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ with the statement.

ASH director Stephanie Erick says the public has a strong view on protecting children from the harms of tobacco.

“If you ask parents, all of them, even smokers will say that they don’t want their children to smoke. And yet we have an issue here where children are still being exposed to smoke. It directly impacts on their health and it also sends the message that smoking is a normal behaviour,” says Ms Erick.

The ASH Year 10 survey shows that in 2013 18.5% of students were exposed to smoking in cars.

World Smokefree Day is on Saturday 31 May. This year’s theme is 'Quit now. It's about whanau.'

Fieldwork was conducted from 15 to 19 May 2014 at UMR Research’s national interview facility in Auckland.

The margin of error for sample size of 750 for a 50% figure at a ‘95% confidence level’ is ± 3.6%.

For further information please visit www.ash.org.nz

ENDS

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