AIBU to think banning smoking in public would be a good thing?

[MumOfTheNorth]

Interested to get the general consensus on this.

Cigarette smoke makes me feel really ill and I'm often in public situations where people are smoking near me. Sometimes I can't move away, for instance when I'm in a qué or the other day I was sitting outside in a restaurant and a person sat down and started smoking and the wind blew the smoke and ash onto me and my food.

Maybe this is really selfish but I don't want myself and my baby to be exposed to second hand smoke when we're out and about. AIBU?

It pretty much is where live, not in UK. You can’t smoke indoors or outdoors at pubs/restaurants/eateries. Can’t smoke within a good distance of seating at public parks, recreational areas and some not at all due to bushfire risk with butts. Can’t smoke near public transport, up to 100m away from bus stops and any train station. Can’t smoke anywhere near business entrances. Can’t smoke on beaches. When you put all the restrictions together basically there is next to nowhere in public smokers can smoke, they are essentially limited to within their own car as long as they don’t have anyone under 18yo in it, or in their house or backyard at home, otherwise too difficult. Not sure whether it is State based or LGA based or a combo though here, doubt it’s a National thing.

This. Smoking would never get introduced now. The concept just sounds mad. I wish it wasn't in tv/movies.

Smoking is banned in all public places inside in the UK.

I agree - vaping is worse. There was another thread about this on here not that long ago.

I don't really care about smoking outside (at least in the UK, it is not an issue; in other countries it is more prevalent under terrace roofs and the like, and is allowed eg on station platforms so it is more annoying).

Well you clearly didn't come to the UK because it's not like that here.

And the percentage of Brits who smoke is lower than most European countries (about 10% of adults) so it's very unlikely that all the smokers you encountered in Greece were Brits. The Brits were the ones with the sunburnt beer bellies.

Inhaling secondhand cigarette smoke outdoors has got to have such a small effect on your health as to be negligible. I’d be much more concerned about road pollution or sitting in a room with a wood burner.

Yeah I’d love to ban smoking and vaping anywhere but private residences/gardens. It would have a knock on effect that young people likely wouldn’t be as tempted to try it aa they just wouldn’t see it anywhere.

This. Judging by some posts you'd think that breathing in second hand smoke for a couple of seconds equates to a death sentence.

It's all a bit "guns don't kill people, people kill people".

It's illegal to smoke in most public places in Australia, I think it's fantastic.
Also not allowed to smoke in cars if there is any children with you.

I think it would be reasonable to increase the areas where smoking is not permitted.

For example a distance away from schools, away from door ways etc. it can be very grim have to walk through a waft of smoke to access a building. They have this in place in hospitals here with a designated smoking area about 15 meters away.

I smoke. I never smoke around people and I also hate people smoking near me. If I was somehow bothering someone with my smoke, I’d not be offended if they asked me not to.

I live in a place with similar rules and they're almost completely ignored. Particularly playgrounds, bus stops and beaches. Not policed, either. The smokers smoke wherever they like then throw the butts down on the ground to filth up our storm water systems and beaches. Then wonder why people look down on them.

Totally agree OP. When you go to other countries where there are stricter restrictions (as mentioned by a PP - eg no smoking in beaches, no smoking within 100m of the entrance of a public building) it’s a real shock when you do see someone smoking. So much better. I genuinely don’t think smokers have any idea how much they stink. It’s really, really sad when you work with kids who reek of it because their parents smoke. I really hope the smoking law gets through because I would love my kids to grow up in a country in which fewer and fewer people smoke to the point of extinction.

And to the PP who trotted out the line about EVs being worse for the environment than ICEs - that has been thoroughly debunked. Eg (and this is a few years old) https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/lifetime-carbon-emissions-electric-vehicles-vs-gasoline-cars-2021-06-29/

I'm an ex smoker and my DH is still a smoker, as are a lot of my friends.
I'd like to see smoking banned in public places aimed at kids. Around a school, in a park, at a fairground etc.
Even the most addicted smokers can not smoke for the hour or so they're at the park. They can not smoke at the school gates knowing kids will be walking directly through their clouds.
When DS was tiny I was pushing him on the swing in the park, a lady and her DD went on the swing next to him and she lit up between pushes so that basically her DD and my DS were swinging directly into her smoke. I'm just amazed that some people are so fucking dense.

Even most outdoor public places can have smoking and non-smoking sections. Have some outside tables at the pub that are smoke free (or better yet, a separate beer garden). It would probably need to be seasonal however because smokers are using the outdoor facilities all year round, whereas none smokers only visit the beer gardens on the 8 sunny days a year we have.

I'm not a smoker but same.

And that is MN in a nutshell 🤣

Yep, I get that the QP was being light-hearted 😊

Rome in summer. Fagalicious. So much smoke.

I went by a couple in the supermarket this week and wanted to look at a freezer cabinet next to them.
They smelt so badly I had to walk off cough and come back later. It was just awful. I don’t know how they become so immune.

God, yes. I don’t mind people smoking in designated smoking places but when you’re at the bus stop and someone’s smoking, it’s too much. I HATE when the wind blows the smoke in my direction and the direction of my double buggy. I’m also asthmatic so can’t stand it. I can’t see it ever being banned though, it’s not exactly illegal!

We're talking about banning smoking in public places - like many other western countries have done.. not making smoking illegal. If you want to smoke, smoke at home. There is no good reason to continue to accept having smokers standing directly outside doorways into shops or taking up outdoor seating in cafes and restaurants. It's so unnecessary, especially with all the research on secondary smoking. With regards to alcohol, someone drinking from a beer bottle near me doesn't affect my health in any way. Someone blowing smoke in my direction does (intentionally or not).

But cafes and restaurants etc are private premises, not public places so a ban on public places won't make a difference here. Also they aren't "taking up" outdoor seating anymore than a non-smoker is. They're just using it.

The problem with trying to ban it everywhere this is the smokers then will be way less likely to go out if they can only smoke from home and their money is just as needed as everyone else's for the country to keep going.
If they can't smoke, they'll just socialise at peoples houses instead of using pubs and restaurants. They'll work from home instead of going into the office/working from a café/using a coworking space etc.

It hasn't had this kind of impact in countries where it's illegal to smoke in public places. It's meant that smoking has become even less socially acceptable and means people are more likely to quit or at least reduce how often they smoke.

And I'm pretty sure it was possible to ban smoking inside public places (such as restaurants and cafes) so absolutely no reason why it cannot be done outside these premises.

The issue with smokers taking up the tables outside is that it's a health hazard and therefore people who don't smoke are effectively moved to inside or not using the cafe at all because they're put off by the smoke.

I'm not sure how you can't see why that is hugely unfair for non-smokers who would like to drink a coffee outside on a nice day, but, quite rightly, don't want to inhale a load of toxic air while they do this.. (smokers are welcome to still sit outside, providing they are not engaging in their unpleasant and unsociable habit.).

Do you visit those cafes and have a nice coffee during the winter too, or do you only want to visit them when you can sit outside in the sun?

Because the smokers are visiting, buying a coffee and sitting outside in the rain, snow, cold, wind.... year round not just the nice sunny days. They won't continue to visit and buy stuff if they can't smoke there.

Smokers are not taking up a table. They are using the table exactly like you want to do. You're not more entitled to that table than they are.
I'm not sure which countries have banned smoking in all public places or the effects it has had on people quitting or their economy so I can't really talk to that, but I do know that if places start banning smoking from their beer gardens, smokers will just stop going there. It's much harder to quit than most people appreciate.