Australia: Smoking to Become Illegal at Railway Stations under New Health Rules

Source from:  The Voice of Russia  10/16/2013

Starting early next year, smokers will not be allowed to smoke at train stations in Victoria, Australia as the State Government is ready to ban smoking on platforms. Also, under this new form of legislation, which was announced by Health Minister David Davis and Transport Minister Terry Mulder, cigarettes will be prohibited from tram super stops.

The new laws may even be extended to ban smoking at every tram and bus stop. For the time being, the ban will only have an impact on covered areas of platforms and inside of bus and tram shelters.

Davis said banning smoking on train platforms and raised platforms at tram stops would improve the health and wellbeing public transport users and was intended to extend the no-go zones for smokers.

"Around 4000 lives are lost each year in Victoria as a result of smoking and it costs $2.4 billion in direct health costs and lost productivity every year," Davis said.

Mulder said the Government wider bans on smoking in public transport areas were under consideration. "Our initiatives will help eliminate what for many people is an unpleasant experience in being exposed to second-hand smoke while they are waiting for or alighting from trams and trains," he said.

Still, the amount of people being fined for smoking on public transport has seen a spike in occurrences. In fact, there was a 72 percent increase in the number of people breaking the law in this manner. For the proposed legislation, the fine for adults will be 202 US dollars while children will be charged 68 US dollars if they are caught smoking at covered platform areas or inside bus and tram shelters. Enditem