Despite all the public health campaigns and education programs to discourage cigarette smoking it’s still a relatively common problem, particularly as giving up the habit is so difficult. Even with the invention of nicotine patches, chewing gum, e-cigarettes, and hipsters (we get it, you vape) the process of quitting is nothing short of arduous. While some people get riled by those who smoke because it is a choice they vehemently disagree with I try to have a little more patience as these situations are rarely as clear-cut as they seem. However there is one general trait that is relatively common among smokers that does annoy me; when smoking in public they rarely show consideration to the rest of us using the city streets at the same time.
When the UK government completely banned the practice of smoking cigarettes indoors in public places they failed to consider where smokers could go outside to smoke. It wouldn’t be a UK law if something wasn’t drastically overlooked. So naturally the smokers gather just outside of the door, especially in the winter, and to enter the building you are forced to pass through a thick haze of carcinogenic smoke. This is a problem for everyone, but for anyone disabled we have the additional challenge of navigating around a blocked pavement or doorway just to continue our business.
Breathing difficulties are also a common issue for those with chronic illnesses. I myself am asthmatic and when visiting the doctor we will always be asked to avoid cigarette smoke where possible. Given that to enter or exit a public building, doctor’s surgery included, we have to pass through the crowd of smokers outside this is nigh on impossible.
There is one problem bigger than all of the above that is down-right dangerous for wheelchair users, dwarves, and children alike (even more dangerous than the risk of lung cancer). When not taking a drag on a cigarette most people let it dangle from the end of their relaxed arm which just so happens to be right in our eye-line. I have lost count of the times I have only just avoided a cigarette burn on my face and I know that many parents say the same of their young children. On one occasion where the smoker was crouched against a wall on a narrow and busy pavement, the cigarette actually touched my leg and had I not been wearing tights I would have been burned. Not once in any of these instances has the smoker in question apologised or even noticed that they nearly set fire to someone, which you would think was fairly obvious. In fact many will look over their shoulder, see someone behind them, and continue to do it anyway. It shocks and appalls me that people will be so negligent when holding a stick which is literally on fire and I wish that smokers would be respectful to the rest of the public and their right not to get set on fire.
Of course when it is suggested that smokers should have to walk five metres further to a designated smoking shelter, all hell breaks loose…
