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Smokers ’r us
Among America’s most successful cultural exports must be the tobacco habit.
By my reckoning, smokers are about a quarter of the population in Israel. (My guesstimate was right on the money — see the articles below.)
Movies feature an intermission apparently geared towards smokers; half way through the projectionist stops the film and brings up the house lights to allow those who are jonesing to step outside a drag.
Attempts to create smoke-free environment are admirable. At one mall, every square support pillar in a common area has a no-smoking sign. To hammer the point home, the signs have been placed on each side of the pillar. With each pillar about 4 meters apart, it makes for a sea of no smoking signs wherever you look. Yet, the anti-smoking laws are only about a year old, and widely ignored.
January 20, 2003
Survey: 51 percent of non-smokers are afraid to ask smokers to put out their cigarettes in public places
At a press conference yesterday marking the first anniversary of laws banning smoking in public places, Health Minister Nissim Dahan assailed local authorities for failing to enforce the bans.
Dahan said he was shocked at the local authorities’ unwillingness to cooperate with the enforcement of the bans and warned that if the they did not change their attitudes he would - in the event he remains health minister after the elections - transfer enforcement powers to the Health Ministry.
Dahan presented the results of a survey commissioned by the ministry that showed that 51 percent of the non-smoking public are afraid of a violent reaction if they ask people smoking in public places to put out their cigarettes. Dr. Mina Zemach, who conducted the survey, described the data as astonishing.
`People are killed over parking spots’
Dahan said that if people were killed in disputes over parking spots, it was no wonder that people were afraid to speak up against smoking.
By Haim Shadmi
Israelis feel healthier, smoke less study
Despite the intifada, recession, and surging unemployment of the last two years, Israelis smoke less, feel healthier, and are generally more likely to take care of their health than in 2002.
These are some of the rather surprising results of a Health Ministry survey conducted recently. The data were disclosed by Dr. Dov Tamir, head of health promotion in the ministry’s public health services branch.
Contrary to expectations, only 26 percent of the representative sample said they smoked, compared to 27% in 2000 and 28% in 1994. Sixteen percent of young women and 29% of young men aged 18 to 24 smoked last year; the figures were 20% of women and 28% of men over the age of 45.
Security
With my Americanized eyes, I pick up on the oddities of daily Israeli life that have become the norm for most residents.
The drivers here make the French look like the Germans in terms of patience and respect for other vehicles. Being a passenger with an Israeli behind the wheel is a test of one’s nerves and blood pressure. It’s like a themepark ride, except without the safety measures. In large part, I think the driving method (or lack thereof) is an outgrowth of the country’s ad-hoc mentality. So much of what was built up in the past was slapped together as quickly as possible. The streets here curve and meet in bizarre intersections because the paths and asphalt were laid down in sections, before any urban planning was possible. You try to figure out how to get around with roads like these.
I’ve seen two cars simultaneously pass both sides of a slower driver… on a highway on-ramp. And all three try to share one lane when they get on. Cars cross medians to make turns. Cars drive on either side of the road depending, I suppose, on the motorist’s preference. Cars make U-turns in the middle of the street. Cars push their way in front of you without signalling if you leave them a meter of room. Any road courtesy you learned in drivers ed goes right out the window.
But for all that, there are few horns to be heard, as it appears Israelis actually expect this sort of behavior. The only time you’re sure to be honked at is if you’re taking too much time.
Everyone seems in a hurry to get somewhere, and because the road system is so inefficient and unregulated drivers think they’ll never get there unless they push the other guy out of the way.
Depending on whom you talk to, the risk of traffic fatalities here is either twice or four times higher than the risk of being blown up by a terrorist.
And the parking is as bad as the driving — cars are left at odd angles and places as if their owners are merely running in to drop off a Blockbuster video.
But the real stand out is the heightened security measures everywhere. Want to go to the mall? Your car is searched before entering the lot. At the door to any establishment is a guy with a hand-held metal detector. Women’s purses are checked at every entrance. Men get a quick once-over with the wand. The movie theater has its own NASA Command Center to monitor surveillance video. The supermarket has mini-cams above every register. A security officer approached me when I took a picture of the lot at the local grocery. He wanted to know if I had permission to photograph the cars. He asked for my place of residence and birth. He seemed unsure as to why someone would want to take snapshots of automobiles parked in a bizarre fashion. It would have been comical, if he didn’t look like he might take my camera just to be difficult.
Next time: the smokers!