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banjois
Joined: 14 Nov 2009
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 Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 1:47 am Post subject: |
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| northway wrote: |
| This is all logical, but I've read elsewhere that Seoul's government has proposed banning smoking on the street everywhere, which is just straight crazy. |
I agree it's crazy, but have you been to Japan lately? |
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cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 6:24 am Post subject: |
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| banjois wrote: |
| northway wrote: |
| This is all logical, but I've read elsewhere that Seoul's government has proposed banning smoking on the street everywhere, which is just straight crazy. |
I agree it's crazy, but have you been to Japan lately? |
From what I've heard, people follow rules in Japan, and they're enforced. Can you imagine trying to ban smoking on every street in Seoul, including the narrow, dark alleys in old neighborhoods? Good luck.
I'm a non-smoker who hates the smell of smoke, but I think banning smoking on the street is downright authoritarian. This is a terrible idea. Whatever happened to freedom? |
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Yaya
Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 6:48 am Post subject: |
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| Many guys smoke in the bathroom stalls while taking a dump despite sign after sign saying "No smoking." I think Seoul has to enforce existing no-smoking areas before expanding them. |
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alongway
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
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| Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 8:34 am Post subject: |
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| cj1976 wrote: |
| northway wrote: |
| I just don't see the logic of banning outdoor smoking in general, let alone banning outdoor smoking while continuing to allow indoor smoking. |
K-logic strikes once more. The intention is good, but they clearly didn't think about it properly.  |
Yet some western municipal governments ban smoking in some outdoor areas. I know places when you're not allowed to smoke within a few meters of an open air bus stop.
NET-Logic strikes once more.  |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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| alongway wrote: |
| cj1976 wrote: |
| northway wrote: |
| I just don't see the logic of banning outdoor smoking in general, let alone banning outdoor smoking while continuing to allow indoor smoking. |
K-logic strikes once more. The intention is good, but they clearly didn't think about it properly. |
Yet some western municipal governments ban smoking in some outdoor areas. I know places when you're not allowed to smoke within a few meters of an open air bus stop.
NET-Logic strikes once more. |
"Some" is very different from "all". Not smoking at bus stops is entirely logical. Not smoking anywhere outdoors is not.
Also, as Yaya said, existing smoking laws are barely enforced. |
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alongway
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
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| Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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| northway wrote: |
| alongway wrote: |
| cj1976 wrote: |
| northway wrote: |
| I just don't see the logic of banning outdoor smoking in general, let alone banning outdoor smoking while continuing to allow indoor smoking. |
K-logic strikes once more. The intention is good, but they clearly didn't think about it properly. |
Yet some western municipal governments ban smoking in some outdoor areas. I know places when you're not allowed to smoke within a few meters of an open air bus stop.
NET-Logic strikes once more. |
"Some" is very different from "all". Not smoking at bus stops is entirely logical. Not smoking anywhere outdoors is not.
Also, as Yaya said, existing smoking laws are barely enforced. |
They are as enforced as they can be. Have you ever actually made a complaint against someone smoking in one of these areas? Do you think they city should be patrolling the (tens of?) thousands of no smoking areas in Seoul? I saw someone smoke on a subway platform back in Canada which was a no-smoking section, does that mean the city barely enforces the law? Smoking is an activity that can be done in a couple of minutes. Unless there just happens to be a bylaw officer right there when the person lights up, the chances of catching them and enforcing the law are pretty low. The subway workers don't have authority to issue smoking tickets, so if you see someone smoking in a stall and even report it, unless the officer gets there very quickly, the cigarette is likely to be gone by the time the guy arrives.
These kinds of bylaws can only be enforced by a high profile fine that makes the news. It's impractical to expect them to hire hundreds and thousands of bylaw officers to patrol these areas. If they want to curb smoking in these areas they simply have to raise the fine to a high level, like 500,000 and then patrol a couple of well known areas where people smoke in the bathrooms. Nail a few people, it'll get a news story about the new fines and how harsh they are and people will think a lot harder about it.
That said, compared to say 4 years ago, I find the amount of people smoking in subway stalls to be much much less. It was a pretty constant thing back then, as in every time you went in to the bathroom there was at least one guy smoking. But these days, barely at all. |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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It depends on the location. Koreans are seeing more and more "non-smoking" signs around and they are getting the message. Right outside the Yahoo Building in Samsung-dong was a place many many office workers came to smoke. Last summer the building banned smoking there. They put up a sign a month in advanced that said smoking will be banned on August 1st.
And guess what? Come August 5th there is NO ONE smoking there anymore. |
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orosee
Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Location: Hannam-dong, Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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Well Hong Kong has banned smoking pretty much everywhere and they have the signs to show it. 5,000 HK$ is a pretty steep fine (about 500 Euros) but apparently that doesn't mean much in Lan Kwai Fong or Wan Chai late at night.
Anyway, I'd find it odd to have steep fines and campaigns against outdoor smoking when there are parked cars on the same sidewalks, parked cars on pedestrian crossings, cars running red lights or driving against a one way street with impunity. If Seoul had a foreigner* traffic brigade (with a 25% cut of the fines), these people could make a fortune here.
So in my opinion the Gu of Seocho could afford Golden Ashtrays in Fully Climatized Hermetic Smoking Cabins after just one year of properly and harshly fining motorists. And improve everybody's life everywhere, much more than by what they've announced now.
(* foreigners from countries where traffic rules are enforced) |
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