This is such a common occurrence at Oshawa Station that it's not even worth taking pics. The other day I walked past one smoker and two vapers on the platform itself. I especially enjoy the people who stand right under a "no smoking" sign as they do it.
I have objected...I have asked the staff inside who to speak to about enforcement, I've even (like the original LW) asked enforcement staff to address it as it was happening. Nothing. So if the enforcement staff - who are only too happy to stand outside a washroom for 45 minutes waiting for someone to produce proof of purchase for their fare - can enforce THAT rule (pay your fare) "all the time" (by which I mean, when they are onsite) then why on earth are they not doing the same when other infractions are happening right in front of them?? I would love some answers on this. If a rule isn't meant (or going to be) enforced all the time, then it needs to be no longer a rule - because in that situation it's just a joke.
P.S. My husband mentioned to me that the lack of enforcement might be because the "No Smoking" signs don't also include a bylaw reference (and so, when push comes to shove, so to speak, the enforcement office *can't* actually do anything). In which case, it's even more of a joke.
Yeah - inadequate signage is a major sign that this is not taken seriously. Another one is when you call to find the relevant enforcing authority. The first time I called I got shifted from GO to Halton Health, to Halton Police, to GO Public Relations, back to the Transit Cops. And every time I called after that they tried to put me on the same merry-go-round. A GO bus driver who retired a while ago let me know that a Health and Safety Rep told him that the enforcement types had let it be known, discreetly, that no smoking regulations and safety and comfort guarantees were not REALLY going to be enforced, since this would tick off the buttsuckers and give them the sads and maybe make them not want to travel on GO. This made sense maybe a few years ago when smokers made up 25-30% of the adult population, but they make up maybe 15% now, and dropping. I would hazard a guess that more people in the population suffer allergic reactions/asthma/COPD than smoke... But no one thinks of them. But still no action from GO.
Transient? Hardly. The persistence of particulates in tobacco smoke has been demonstrated, in tests published in peer review, to be far higher than in diesel and gasoline exhaust. The reason is that tobacco is treated with chemicals to maximize nicotine dosage and manage the burning.
There is no risk free level of exposure to second hand smoke. You could take MY word for it – I never know just how much ambient buttsucker fume will set off my aleeric reaction, but you don’t have to. The Centre for Disease Control says the same.
Read your link. Specious pleading from Jacob Grier, Cato Institute tout. Cato institute = well known Koch brothers/bigtobacco front. Nothing in the article definitively shows why buttsuckers' rights to smoke supersede the public right not to be annoyed and harmed.
7 comments:
This is such a common occurrence at Oshawa Station that it's not even worth taking pics. The other day I walked past one smoker and two vapers on the platform itself. I especially enjoy the people who stand right under a "no smoking" sign as they do it.
I've seen those assholes, too. Both look like they'd stab me for objecting, so I say nothing.
Some things are not worth surgery for.
I have objected...I have asked the staff inside who to speak to about enforcement, I've even (like the original LW) asked enforcement staff to address it as it was happening. Nothing. So if the enforcement staff - who are only too happy to stand outside a washroom for 45 minutes waiting for someone to produce proof of purchase for their fare - can enforce THAT rule (pay your fare) "all the time" (by which I mean, when they are onsite) then why on earth are they not doing the same when other infractions are happening right in front of them?? I would love some answers on this. If a rule isn't meant (or going to be) enforced all the time, then it needs to be no longer a rule - because in that situation it's just a joke.
P.S. My husband mentioned to me that the lack of enforcement might be because the "No Smoking" signs don't also include a bylaw reference (and so, when push comes to shove, so to speak, the enforcement office *can't* actually do anything). In which case, it's even more of a joke.
Yeah - inadequate signage is a major sign that this is not taken seriously. Another one is when you call to find the relevant enforcing authority. The first time I called I got shifted from GO to Halton Health, to Halton Police, to GO Public Relations, back to the Transit Cops. And every time I called after that they tried to put me on the same merry-go-round.
A GO bus driver who retired a while ago let me know that a Health and Safety Rep told him that the enforcement types had let it be known, discreetly, that no smoking regulations and safety and comfort guarantees were not REALLY going to be enforced, since this would tick off the buttsuckers and give them the sads and maybe make them not want to travel on GO.
This made sense maybe a few years ago when smokers made up 25-30% of the adult population, but they make up maybe 15% now, and dropping. I would hazard a guess that more people in the population suffer allergic reactions/asthma/COPD than smoke... But no one thinks of them.
But still no action from GO.
"allergens and toxins in his smoke"? Transient exposure to secondhand smoke is an annoyance not a mortal threat.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2017/02/secondhand_smoke_isn_t_as_bad_as_we_thought.html
How many cars and trucks (not to mention trains!) are in the vicinity?
Transient? Hardly.
The persistence of particulates in tobacco smoke has been demonstrated, in tests published in peer review, to be far higher than in diesel and gasoline exhaust. The reason is that tobacco is treated with chemicals to maximize nicotine dosage and manage the burning.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15333875
https://mrmjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40248-016-0042-7
There is no risk free level of exposure to second hand smoke. You could take MY word for it – I never know just how much ambient buttsucker fume will set off my aleeric reaction, but you don’t have to. The Centre for Disease Control says the same.
https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/secondhand_smoke/health_effects/index.htm
Hope that information sets you right on your wrong headed beliefs.
Happy to help!
Read your link. Specious pleading from Jacob Grier, Cato Institute tout.
Cato institute = well known Koch brothers/bigtobacco front. Nothing in the article definitively shows why buttsuckers' rights to smoke supersede the public right not to be annoyed and harmed.
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