Ask any smoker, and chances are they can tell you why May 1st of last year was memorable. That was the day that Michigan's new smoking ban went into effect, which meant no smoking in bars and restaurants.
One of the arguments for the ban was that it protected workers at those establishments from being exposed to second hand smoke.
Some of viewers who work at fast food restaurants say they are still getting the smoke, but not sure if the smokers were breaking the law. The answer is the subject of this Fact Finder.
When Michigan's new anti smoking law went into effect, many workers at bars and restaurants breathed a little easier.
As of May 1st, no one could light up inside, or even nearby outside according to Tom Buss with the Grand Traverse Health Department, "the rule is if they go outside to smoke they have to be far enough away from the building that the smoke does not infiltrate inside the building."
But some of our viewers say the smoke is getting into their workplace.
They didn't want to appear on camera but sent me an email. In it they explained their situation. They work at a fast food drive thru and are constantly opening and closing the drive thru window to get paid, and pass out food.
They say that when the little window opens for a car that has a driver who smokes, they all have to breathe it in the second hand smoke. They went on to say that it spreads throughout the building and leads to customers' complaints.
They know that people can't light up close to the front door of their restaurant because smoke could waft in, so why is this open window in the back any different?
To get the answer, I contacted the Grand Traverse County Health Department which oversees the ban's enforcement. While the ban covers a lot of smoking scenarios, this one is rare.
"Oh its very unique and you know we try to think that we want to protect people at all times but its not really possible to protect them in all situations from people getting second hand smoke," according to Tom Buss.
Protection in this case may be just that, impossible, or at least not legally enforceable. It's true, smoke could probably get into the restaurant just as easily through the front door as the back window but smoking at the latter is legal for one simple reason. As Buss explains, "Vehicles are exempt; vehicles where people are smoking inside the vehicles are exempt from the law." Bottom line, you can smoke in your car, just about anywhere, with the windows down without violating the smoking ban, even if it impacts others. Your car is your property.
So its not question of enforcement for the Health Department, any steps taken to keep drivers from smoking at the drive thru would have to come from the restaurant itself. As Buss sees it "I guess if establishments do have concerns regarding that, they could always post a sign saying "if you are going to be using the drive up service, please extinguish your smoking apparatus before service."
So what do you think? I am kind of undecided on this one. I could probably make an argument either way. So help me out, tell me what you think: should the smoking ban include drive thru windows to protect the workers inside? Or is your private property, in this case your car, just that your private property and you have the right to do what you want in it?
Take part in the poll below and leave your comment on the issue.
To view the details of the smoking ban CLICK HERE.
