That would depend on your state's laws. I found AZ too smoky for my
likings. It would have been nice to be able to sell a million dollars in
real estate and buy an equivalent house in Phoenix with more land for
$135,000, but the idea of not being able to go to a restaurant was not my
idea of where I'd like to live. I found myself walking out of too many
restaurants right after walking in because they made no attempt to segregate
the smokers (if that's even possible.)
If that was true, then 2 in 3 were not smoking. There were also some
potential customers who stayed away because of the smoky atmosphere. I used
to stay away from bowling alleys for the same reason. Now I take my kids,
and kids have birthday parties there. The percentage who smoked did not
necessarily reflect the percentage of potential customers who smoked.
The idea of the California law was not to protect the bar patrons. It was to
protect employees. I think it's still theoretically possible to open a bar
and allow smoking if the owner is the bartender and there are no employees.
(Possibly, other family members could work there.) I haven't paid much
attention to that aspect of the law since it was passed years ago, but I
wouldn't rule out the possiblity of a group of bartenders owning something
jointly and having enough owners to cover all shifts. I don't know of any
bars like that, but if I got that aspect of the law right, they would be
able to allow smoking as long as they had a sign in the entrance that says
that they allow smoking and that it's a substance known to the state of
California to cause cancer, etc.
We'll have to respectfully disagree and leave it at that, then.
This thread did start with a study that aluded to that, at least with
respect to cars. I don't know if there is comprehensive data, but I do know
that I've never come home stinking of exhaust from driving behind another
car. I've had occasions where the person in front of me is a gross polluter,
and I had to switch to recirc, but I've had far more occasions when I had to
do it because somebody in the car in front of me lit up at a red light and
had the window open.
I don't know if *I* get more toxicity from machine exhaust than from
cigarettes, but if I do, it's because I'm not around cigarettes as much. I
do know that if I were in an open room such as a garage with a car's engine
running, I'd be bothered less than if a single person were smoking. The
former would not make me cough, smell up my clothes, or give me a headache.
I think New England is a beautiful place. I haven't been there in a while
though.
In the 70's, I had friends whose parents smoked around them and around other
children. I can't see that happening today, and I don't know if your
parents would react the same way today either.
You could try discussing the benefits of not smoking rather than the scare
tactics and see if it works. In my case, it would be none of my business,
but as a health care worker, it would be reasonable.
