Finally it is forbidden to smoke in Danish trains. After having lived in the nearly smoking free New York for quite some time, coming back to Europe was a bit of a shock in terms of non-smoker protection policies.
Even though the situation has gotten a bit better over the last years, many Europeans still can’t imagine to live without smoking. Especially bad is Germany: Even though an anti-smoking law was in discussion for a long time ,the government bailed out at the last moment, claiming that it isn’t empowered to pass effective anti-smoking legislation. At least smoking in trains will be forbidden at some point in the future in Germany, too. I think this kind of weak legislation will keep Germany where it currently is: in the shameful third place on the list of European countries with the most number of smokers in the population.
It’s distusging how one is being subjected to smoke in all kinds of places in Denmark (and Europe in general). On the trains, they actually used to have the smokers’ departments be used as smokers departments from one end of the country to the other and then, as non-smokers departments on the way back. Ridiculous. Smoke smells and it kills. But I think time is on our side. In ten years… there will probably be no smoke in public places even in Germany.