72
SOlTl'lI] WEST
1F0 1RUE§1' & RAN G1E JEXJPIERlMllE N'f §l'A1rll ON
_ _ _ _ B e tk e le yt
Cal ! l orn I Cl _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Motorists' knowledge of
the r No Smoking' ordinance in southern California
WILLIAM S.FOLKMAN
Because of the severe danger of fire, s m 0 king while
t r a vel ing is prohibited in
many wildland areas in southern Cal if 0 r n i a. A test of
signs designed to mark such
restricted areas 1 made it
possible to gather information on motorists' familiarity with the
prohibition. Those charged with the enforcement 0 f the regulation
may find this information helpful in evaluating the effectiveness of
their educational efforts.
ABSTRACT: Twenty-nine percent of motorists
interviewed in an area where smoking w a. s
restricted were misinformed about,or didn't
know of, the regulation prohibiting smoking
while traveling. Familiarity with the regulation was related to whether the motorist
smoked, frequency of use of the area, and
place of residence. It was not related to
the age and sex of the respondents.
As part of the interview for the signing study (which was done
during July and August 1964), drivers in an area in which the
restriction was in for c e were aSked: "Can you tell me w hat the
regulation is regarding smoking w h i 1 e traveling in t his National
Forest?" For our purposes here, the question is somewhat defective; it informs the motorist that such a regulation exists. This tip
undoubtedly affected the responses to some extent. Had the interview situation permitted, the question would have been broached in
a more indirect manner. Nevertheless, 29 percent of the motorists
gave incorrect answers to the question, or said they did not know.
As the regulation applied 0 n 1 y to smokers (54 percent of the
drivers admitted that the y smoked), one might ex p e c t that nonsmokers would be less aware of the regulation than would smokers.
This proved to be true, although the difference was not great. Onefourth of the smokers, in contrast toone-third of the non-smokers,
did not know th e regulation (table 1). A similar relationship was
obtained when the que s t ion asked whether anyone in the vehicle
smoked. Most of those who were misinformed thought it was permissible to smoke w h i 1 e in a moving vehicle so long a s burning
material was not tossed out of the windows.
lFolkman, William S. Signing for the "No Smoking" ordinance in southern
California. Berkeley, Calif.: Pacific SW. Forest & Range Expt. Sta. U.S. Forest
Servo Res. Note PSW-71. 8 pp., illus. 1965~
forest
Service
-
U.
S.
Depart lent
of
Agriculture
1966 _ _
I i
•
Knowledge of re~ulation re~ardin~ smoking while travelini and characteristics ,_oil..he rupondenta, San Bernardino National Forest, July-Auiust, 191J4
rable 1.
---------------r---------r~---.------
Misinformed or
doesn't know of
regulation
Knows
regulation
Characteris~ic
. ------.-". - ,.
Total
- - - - - - - Percent - - - -
Respondent smokes 1
Yes
No
I'
•...
Number of times driven
road 3
i
Fi rs t time eve,'
1 to 5 times t is year
6 ' to 9 times t , is year
10 or more tim, s this
year
•
j
,I
24 . 6
33.3
100.0
100.0
75.1
65.5
24.9
34.5
100.0
100.0
62.9
68.7
79.5
37.·1
31. 3
20.5
100; 0
100.0
100.0
81. 8
18 . 2
100.0
65.7
71.8
75.8
76.5
34.3
28.2
24.2
23.5
100 . 0
100.0
100.0
100.0
89.3
71.1
66.0
71.4
55.1
10.7
28.9
34.0
28 . 6
44.9
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
69.9
71. 5
, 75.4
72.3
65.1
30.1
28.5
24.6
27.7
34 . 9
100.0
100 . 0
100.0
100.0
100.0
~. - --
Member of party smokes 2
Yes
No
Number of years d!iven road
This is first ~err
2 to 3 years 'j
4 to 5 years
,I
More than 5 ye,r~
75.4
67.7
4
i
it
.:0
i
i .
i
r
;
Place of reSidenj5
Local
!
San Bernardin Riverside
Los Angeles
! '
Other souther .. California
Elsewhere
f~
:-'.,.
Age 6
Less than 30
30 to 44
45 to 54
55 to 64
65 or over
_---_.
. ..
Sex6
Male
Female
------.---------~-. -.~-
28 . 3
28.2
71. 7
71. 8
. - -.-~-----------
1,527
Basis, number interviewed
.
. .,.,
,. '
-
---- - ---_.... _._ ..
lOne d~L. p. <0.001. X 2 ::;;19 . 9
20ne d.f.. p.· <O.OOl. X 2 =22.5
3Three d. f.. p. <0.001. X2 =59.5
4Three d. f.. p. <0.001. X2 =25.6
5Four d. f .• p. <0.001. X 2 =35 . 6
6Dif ferences not statistically ~ignificant.
100.0
. 100.0
.•.
613
_........_-- -_ ...--_._-.
-2-
..-
..----
. ~~
2,140
__.- ._-- .------------_ ...
..
iI
Corre ct under stand ing of the regul ation wa.s
posit ively relate d
to the frequ ency with which the respo nden ts had drive
n thia fores t
road durin g the' year. Only 18 perce nt of frequ ent fores
t visito rs
(thos e who had drive n the road 10 or more times ) gave
incor rect
respo nses or didn' t know the regul ation . Of drive rs for
whom this
was «he first time they had ever drive n the road, 37 perce
nt gave
incor rect answ ers. A comp ariso n on the basis of the
numb er of
years the respo nden ts had been trave ling the road show
ed a simil ar
thoug h some what less mark ed relati onshi p. Twen ty-fo
ur perce nt
of those who had trave led the road for more than 5 years
answ ered
incor rectly , comp ared to 34 perce nt of those for whom
this was the
first year.
South ern Calif ornia ns, espec ially those who resid ed in
or near
the Fore st, were more l\kely to unde rstan d the regul ation
than
were
those from other areas . Only 11 perce nt of those who
resid ed withi n
the study area were misin form ed or didn' t know the regul
ation , compared to 29 perce nt of those from the nearb y San Bern
ardin o-Riv ersid e
area. Comp arabl e figur es for other areas show ed: Los
Ange les, 34
perce nt; rema inder of south ern Calif ornia , 29 perce nt;
north ern Californi a and Qut of state, 45 perce nt.
Age and sex of the respo nden ts were not relate d to famil
iarity
with the regul ation s.
.
i
Adm inistr ators may take heart from these indica tioI1:s
that their
effor ts have had an effec t u.p on those tr.ave ling in these
Wi*
'
land
areas .
For persp ectiv e, the 71 perce nt respo nding corre ctly
to t e quest ion
regar ding the no-sm oking ordin ance migh t be comp ared
w
perce nt giv~ng a posit ive respo nse to quest ions conce rning th the 21
i the basic
law of the land - -the Bill of Right s. In a natio nal poll
cond~cted by
the Natio nal Opiqi on Rese arch Cente r, Nove mber 1945,
quest ions were af5f.ed: What do you know about the Bill th . follow ing
of ights ?
Do you know anyt2 ing it says? " Resu lts from the two
ques ions combined show ed 79 p:erc~nt givin g incor rect or "don' t know
" answ ers.
But one in four smok ers is still misin form ed or unaw are
of the
regul ation . Ther e is still work to be done. It may not
be an easy
task, for educa tiona l effor ts have failed to reach 24 perce
nt of those
who had trave led in this area more than 5 years .
The Author , . .
WILLIAM S . FOLKMAN is respon sible for studie s of
the sociol ogical problem s in the preven tion of
man-ca used forest fires and in the use of forest
recrea tion areas . He joined the Pacifi c
west Statio n staff in 1962 after a career Southin
sociol osical resear ch and teachin g
severa l
univer sIties and the U.S . Depart ment'ith
of Agricu l,.
ture ' s AgrIcu ltural Marke ting Servic e;and
Econom ic Resear ch Servic e in Washin gton, D. C.
He holds a bache lor's degree in agricu lture
from Utah State Agricu ltural Colleg e , a maste r's
degree in sociolo gy from the Unive rsity of Utah
and a doctor ate in rural sociolo gy from Cornel l ,
Uni.ve rsity.
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