Newly published research conducted at the University of Otago by Dr George Thomson and Dr Nick Wilson has reviewed attitudes to smoke-free private car laws. The authors identified 15 studies from 1988 set in North America, the UK and Australasia. The results showed there is majority public support for laws requiring cars that contain children to be smoke-free. There appears to have been an increase over time in this support, with five surveys in 2005 or since (in California, New Zealand and Australia) showing support from smokers was 77% or more.
The high levels of public support (including from smokers) for smoke-free car laws suggests that this would be a relatively non-controversial tobacco control intervention.
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