By Frank James

Passengers with very offensive body odor get on public transit systems the world over, usually to the olfactory distress of their fellow passengers.

But some city lawmakers in Honolulu want to try and put an end to this. If they had their way, extreme personal funkiness on public conveyances illegal.

From the Honolulu Advertiser:

The City Council is considering a bill that will make it illegal to "bring onto transit property odors that unreasonably disturb others or interfere with their use of the transit system, whether such odors arise from one's person, clothes, articles, accompanying animal or any other source."
Councilman Rod Tam, a co-sponsor of the bill, explained why it is needed:
"As we become more inundated with people from all over the world, their way of taking care of their health is different. Some people, quite frankly, do not take a bath every day and therefore they may be offensive in terms of their odor."
There are existing city laws and rules covering passenger behavior on city buses. But council members Tam and Nestor Garcia, the introducers of the bill, thought it was important for the city to consider passenger behavior as Honolulu prepares to build its first commuter rail line.
Tam and Garcia lifted the language pertaining to odors from the King County (Seattle) code of conduct that covers its public transportation system.

The story goes on to report that the American Civil Liberties Union has sniffed out potential problems with the bill, for instance its vagueness.

The proposed penalties in terms of jail time seem fairly onerous:

Under the bill, a person found in violation may be ordered to leave transit property and issued a summons or citation by a police officer. If convicted, a person could be fined up to $500, spend up to six months in jail, or be both fined and jailed.

Maybe a class in personal hygiene would be more appropriate?

categories: National News

6:31 - September 1, 2009

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