Smoke-free bus stops campaign 2016

Haltestellen-Aufkleber Pro Rauchfrei
For World No-Tobacco Day on May 31 2016, 1,500 stickers from Pro-Rauchfrei are promoting smoke-free bus stops, in Berlin, Hamburg, Norderstedt, Lübeck, Hanover, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Würzburg, Nuremberg, Fürth, Munich, Ulm, Regensburg and others.

Our stickers are also placed in bus shelters where public transport companies ask people not to smoke. Why?

The notices are either very inconspicuous and easy to overlook in contrast to the conspicuous tobacco advertising – e.g. in Nuremberg – or they are visible, but not enforced. Such a trial is currently underway in Augsburg with a small robot (more information below). Reasoning: “The smoking ban at Königsplatz has been in force for two and a half years. Very few cigarette lovers are interested in this. They simply continue to smoke despite the signs.” – AZ München. Something should be done about this.

Press release on May 31 – World No Tobacco Day

For the sake of our children: smoke-free at bus stops and in cars
Bus stop campaign for the WNT by Pro Rauchfrei e.V.

With a sticker campaign at bus stops, Germany’s largest non-smokers’ association is raising awareness for better protection of our children from reckless smokers on World No Tobacco Day.

Bus shelters at bus and streetcar stops offer protection from the sun, wind and rain. This is particularly important for children to get to school in a good mood, for example. However, both mood and health suffer considerably if the shelters are smoky.

But children are also trapped in the car like in a tin can when the driver or passengers, often even their own parents, smoke. For them in particular, being forced to smoke is very harmful and gives them a false impression of their health.

This is why Pro Rauchfrei is calling for a general ban on smoking in bus shelters and in cars as soon as children or pregnant women are passengers.

While the Federal Government’s Drug Commissioner and health organizations are currently focusing on the smoking ban in cars, Pro Rauchfrei is going one step further with its sticker campaign: “There is probably nowhere else in Germany where children and young people are more bothered by cigarette smoke on their way to school than in bus shelters on local and long-distance public transport,” says Siegfried Ermer, Federal Chairman of Pro Rauchfrei.

His organization is therefore promoting child protection from smokers with 1,500 stickers at bus stops throughout Germany, including Berlin, Hamburg, Norderstedt, Lübeck, Hanover, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Würzburg, Nuremberg, Fürth, Erlangen and Munich.

Every cigarette is a small carbon monoxide poisoning

Half past seven in the morning somewhere in Germany: kids with school backpacks hurry through the fresh morning air to the bus stop to go to school. Whatever the weather – rain, snow, storm – they have to wait. In many places there are bus shelters to protect them from the weather. However, these are regularly filled with smoke. The more passengers are waiting, the more likely they are to smoke. Anyone who is bothered by this or who is asthmatic or allergic has to get out into the rain or the cold.

In addition to the damage to health, it’s also a bad example given by smoking adults. The people in hospitals who are seriously injured by smoking are not standing at the bus stops. Every day, over 500 children and young people in Germany start smoking. One in four young people is already addicted to tobacco by the time they come of age. Their numbers are falling, but not fast enough.

While pupils are prepared for a self-determined and preferably addiction-free life in subjects such as biology or ethics, they are shown the exact opposite at bus stops on their daily journey to school: smoking passengers who almost invariably dispose of their cigarettes on the street, along with large, elaborately designed advertising for tobacco products. The daily message of a seemingly free culture of enjoyment impresses young people more than the theoretical knowledge about the negative consequences of tobacco addiction.

That is why we are campaigning for smoke-free bus stops on World No-Tobacco Day (WNT) on May 31!

In addition to clearly marking non-smoking areas, outdoor smoking areas should be marked where possible and provided with a sufficient number of ashtrays. At the same time, the bans should be subject to fines to encourage compliance. The most important thing, however, is to keep bus shelters smoke-free.

Why are smoke-free bus stops beneficial for everyone?

  • The greatest easily avoidable health risk to waiting passengers, namely passive smoking, is eliminated. Children and young people in particular are protected from physical harm and the poor role model function of public smoking in places they have to frequent regularly (journeys between school and home and compulsory boarding and alighting at bus stops).
  • Disputes between non-smoking and smoking passengers due to smoking nuisance, lack of consideration by smokers and unclear regulations are considerably reduced.
  • Enforcement of the non-smoking ban is made easier if there are clear implementation regulations. Maintenance  costs for bus stops and their surroundings are expected to decrease, as significantly fewer cigarette butts are discarded.
  • As has been shown so far, appeals to smokers (e.g. as part of poster campaigns at bus stops) to behave considerately do not have much effect. However, even if nine out of ten smokers comply with the request, one in ten who ignores it is enough to undo all efforts.

The Federal Drug Commissioner Marlene Mortler is currently campaigning again for a ban on smoking in cars. Here, too, we should strive for a legal regulation for the sake of children and young people alone. We hope that Ms. Mortler will persevere in pursuing her long-announced goal and will not allow herself to be dissuaded by mud-slinging from the opposition – even though it is likely that the tobacco lobby will once again kick up a storm, just as it did with the implementation of the EU Tobacco Directive.

How can you make a difference?

If there is a smoke-free campaign and people are still smoking while waiting at the bus stop, please report this to the public transport company and ask them to emphasize the smoke-free appeal.

We have prepared an information folder Smoke-free bus stops (Pdf in new window, 20.2 MB) for all those who would like to take action in their municipality and propose a smoke-free campaign. We will be happy to adapt the letter to the mayor to your chosen town or municipality.

Further information:

  • Smoking in the everyday lives of children and young people (diagram)
  • Article on smoke-free public transport stops: Which cities have smoke-free campaigns?
  • Article on the smoke-free and tobacco-free stops in Bergisch-Gladbach
  • The city of Augsburg is currently sending a small robot into the race to increase acceptance of the smoking ban at the Königsplatz bus stops, see article in the Augsburger Allgemeine from May 25, 2016.

More pictures

Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
transparent appeal by the municipal utilities – our sticker in contrast

Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Prominent tobacco advertising at the bus stop

Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Tobacco vending machine directly at the bus stop
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion von Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion von Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion von Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion von Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion von Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion von Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion von Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion von Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion von Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion von Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellenaktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellenaktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellenaktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellenaktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellenaktion Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellenaktion Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellenaktion von Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellenaktion von Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion von Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion von Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellenaktion von Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellenaktion von Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellenaktion von Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellenaktion von Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellen-Aktion von Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellen-Aktion von Pro Rauchfrei
Haltestellenaktion von Pro Rauchfrei Haltestellenaktion von Pro Rauchfrei