Polluting cars worse than 'evil' smokers

Polluting cars worse than 'evil' smokers
 

 
Susan Chabot says people who drive gas-guzzling and emission-spouting vehicles are far more hazardous to the environment than people who smoke tobacco.
Photograph by : Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen 
 
  
The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, April 20, 2006

I am a cyclist but I am also a casual smoker. In recent years, I have watched the cost of cigarettes and gasoline skyrocket. I still smoke. People still drive.

The Ontario government's new anti-smoking legislation comes into effect on May 31 as a measure to protect public health.

I certainly don't disagree that smoking is bad for you, that it causes health problems and that smokers should be encouraged to quit. However, I believe the same is true for people who drive polluting automobiles. It enrages me when the owner of a new Hummer H3 walks by my small (compared to the emissions from his vehicle) puff of carcinogenic smoke and glowers at me.

I drive behind buses, SUVs and a multitude of large cars with only one person in them. I am more likely to die from the illnesses caused by biking behind cars on Bank Street than by smoking two cigarettes a day.

I don't smoke around children, nor do I complain about the lack of smoking sections in our bars. I will, however, continue to complain about the constant vilification of the "evil" smokers, while the green-house effect becomes a little more irreversible everyday -- every time someone gets into their car.

Susan Chabot,

Ottawa
© The Ottawa Citizen 2006