# Why is smoking outlawed in elevators?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smoking-outlawed-in-elevators/216163>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 1, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smoking-outlawed-in-elevators/216163 "2003-12-01T03:02:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smoking-outlawed-in-elevators/216163/41 "2003-12-03T06:00:26Z")

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…except that that web page is misspelling it. It’s “Godwin’s Law”.

And it’s also wrong–it wasn’t originated by a “Professor Goodwin” in 1981, it was originated by a “Mike Godwin” in 1990.

[http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.10/godwin.if.html](http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.10/godwin.if.html)  
[http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin’s\_Law](http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_Law)

> [@](#):
>
> Godwin’s Law is named after Mike Godwin, who was legal counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation in the early 1990s, when the law was first popularized.

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**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-smoking-outlawed-in-elevators/216163/42 "2003-12-03T07:25:20Z")

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I think an important part of the catching-people-on-fire issue in elevators is the enclosed nature of the space. If I’m walking down a hallway and someone’s carelessly-handled cigarette lights my (waist-length and styling-product-free) hair aflame, I have a fair amount of room to drop and roll, or get help, or rush to a bathroom, and people can easily get out of my way.

If someone’s cig lights my hair on fire in an elevator, especially a crowded one, options are more limited. I and those around me would be in a smallish box with an open flame, filling with smoke, little room to maneuver in order to put out the flames, and nobody can get away until the elevator stops at a floor. There are also many people who, when suddenly presented with that kind of situation, will panic, and that makes things even worse.

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