Dumb Rules
I see no end of no smoking signs on coffee shop windows that happen to have an overhang that is large enough that the city considers it “inside” being ignored by the management of the coffee shops, their patrons, and people walking down the street — good on them all I say.
One of the best ways to determine if a law or regulation is something society is willing to accept (or even wants) is the level of adherence it receives; and in the case of Ottawa’s no smoking under overhang laws it’s pretty clear that the city nannies went further than people were reasonably willing to go.
– and the city nannies should pay attention to that.
It’s one of the most stupid rules I’ve ever seen. I’m a militant non-smoker, as most ex-smokers are, but I have never been bothered by people smoking next to me in an open air cafe/restaraunt, and I’ve been to France.
It’s rigorously enforced here. Ridiculous. We recently had our management put a sign on our PORCH that we shouldn’t smoke within 6 feet of the porch – I’m in a shared house, here – ‘though my upstairs neighbour smokes and the other upstairs neighbour has never complained, and this is where we live. If I were still a smoker, my “option” would be to smoke in the house with my kids. Is that what the wonks were hoping for? It’s a strange world.
So my smoking friends and I all stand outside and they smoke right beside the sign.