Maine State Law Against Smoking in Cars with Children, A Cross-Sectional Study of the Prevalence of Violators in 2008 and 2010

Background: Children, still in the development process, are affected severely to secondhand smoke exposure. In 2008, the state of Maine passed a law prohibiting smoking in cars containing children under the age of 16. In the Fall of 2008, research was done to determine the prevalence of people in violation of the law. Additional data was collected in 2010 to calculate the current prevalence of violators of the law, and determine if there was change in prevalence since 2008. Methods: A cross sectional observation study was utilized. Observation sites were placed into two categories; control and sample. The control site was a ‘true' representation of the smoking population. The sample sites were located throughout Farmington, Maine. An observation was defined as, any vehicle containing a child 16 or younger. Results: 20% of the control site observations were in violation, with a confidence interval of 13.02-29.98. 5.2% of the sample site observations were in violation, with a confidence interval of 3.20-7.60. Based upon a 95% confidence interval calculation, the control group was significantly different from the sample group. Conclusion: The prevalence of violators at both sites showed the need for continued education and enforcement planning in order to make the law a success. When finalized, the 2010 data will be used to calculate the new prevalence of violators at both the control and sample sites to see if, after two years of being enacted, the law has had an influence.