That said, we believe legislation making it illegal to smoke in a car with a child 5 years old or younger would be a waste of space in the Utah Code, for three reasons.

First, the law would be so rarely enforced as to be, in practical terms, unenforceable. The person smoking, who may or may not be the driver, could not be cited unless the vehicle were stopped for some other reason. It's not easy to see whether someone in a moving car is smoking, and the cigarette could be doused immediately once the officer's light began flashing.

Second, a person smoking in a car may not be filling the vehicle with smoke if the window is rolled down and he or she is careful to hold the cigarette near the opening. A smoker who knows the dangers of secondhand smoke is likely to take that precaution, with or without a law.

And, finally, it's a nice gesture to try to keep a child from inhaling secondhand smoke. But if that child spends a lot of time with a parent or other person who smokes and who doesn't care about exposing the child to the toxic fumes, the exposure in a car is a small part of the danger.

Better than trying to force smokers to act responsibly would be a broad educational campaign to let them know just how bad secondhand smoke can be. That could change the behavior of those who are exposing children due to ignorance.

Nonetheless, no amount of education in the form of billboards and television ads is apt to impress those who simply don't care. But neither is a law with penalties a smoker is unlikely ever to have to pay.

We don't want to minimize the danger. Children who routinely inhale secondhand smoke are at increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory infections, severe asthma and delayed lung development. If it were possible to pass a law that would make smokers more responsible and so protect children from this danger, we'd be all for it.

This legislation would have little, if any, effect on irresponsible smokers or the children who ride with them in cars.