ampus news EDITOR PATRICK COLVIN THE DAILY VOICE, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2018 3 Langara student Samantha Christie takes a break from her studies for a quick smoke during lunch. Do warning labels work? University of Waterloo study suggests warning labels on cigarette packs have decreased smoking in Canada, but not all smokers agree Label regulations By KENDRA WONG n response to the study on labelling, Langara students have mixed re- views about the effectiveness of the graphic warning labels on cigarette packages. The paper was a joint venture by the University of Waterloo and University of Illinois at Chicago. It shows that graphic warning labels on cigarette packs have led to a decrease in smoking rates in Canada of between 12 and 20 per cent over nine years. Michaela Smith, a creative writing student at Langara, said visual aids have a huge impact on her smoking hab- its. “Tt’s not fun to buy a pack of smokes and see a really messed up mouth and a person with no hair,” she said. “I’ve been to Mexico and Cuba and they don’t have the images there, and I definitely smoked more when I was there, because you don’t have to see those images ev- ery time you take [your cigarette pack] out.” She added that she used to smoke eight to 10 cigarettes a day, but has since cut down to three or four a day since seeing such images. Psychology student Josh Gautreau also thinks graphic images will deter some people from lighting up. “T think that some people are sensi- tive and are off-put by those [images],” said Gautreau. “It’s a lot better than not having those images on there. They tug on the heart strings, I definitely don’t want that to be me in the future.” However, Erin Quittenton doesn’t think the images work. “It’s not going to affect me,” she said. “Tt won’t stop me. If they give it to me, Yl still take it and I’m still going to smoke them,” said Quittenton. History student Sean MacPherson said a positive campaign would be more effective in getting people to stop smok- ing. “It’s not thinking about the fact that you're going to die when you’re 60 from mouth cancer,” he said. “A better cam- paign could be like, ‘Life is so much bet- ter when you’re not smoking.” Geoffrey Fong, co-author of the paper and professor at the University of Wa- terloo, said graphic warning labels make the health risks of tobacco prod- ucts more vivid. Canada was the first country to im- plement graphic warning labels on ciga- rette cartons in 2001. KENDRA WONG photo 75 per cent of package dedicated to health warning messages Health information messages must be included on inside of pack Toxic emission statements must be included on side of pack Source: Health Canada Stats for students Math projects break down student habits like coffee and alcohol consumption By GLEN TRUAX culture were put to statistical analysis, and the Langara math and statistics department is hosting a graphic collection of statistics on dis- play in the Teacher’s Lounge all day. The project combines topical ques- tions with eye-catching graphs and il- lustrations. The stats exhibit is a part of the cel- ebration of International Statistics Year. The posters on exhibit are the term projects of first-year statistics students, using raw survey data that the students themselves collated, and presented with an emphasis on arrest- ing design. The analysis projects are topical, covering a range of subjects from caf- feine intake, alcohol use, mass transit, and even Tim Hortons consumption. One team produced a survey based on the parking habits of Langara stu- dents, and the team agreed that they wanted to make something useful for casual observers, not just stats ex- perts. “We wanted to make something that was easier to read, so that people wouldn’t say, ‘What does that R repre- sent?” said student Nina Kumar. Ni- cole Gots added, “We wanted to find out things that were interesting to us.” The students worked with on-the- street surveys, which occasionally got nasty. “It was tough to get people to re- spond,” said student Brianna Ho. “Some people would just rush right by us, or tell us they weren’t interested and were rude about it.” Instructor Robin Susanto empha- sized that this assignment was intend- ed to be introductory and accessible for non-statistics students. Each group is marked and graded by an instructor from the department, answering questions about their methodology of surveys and image ap- peal. Some of the more text-heavy posters, while certainly informative, did not grab the attention from in- structors and students. “The students are definitely graded by their visuals,” said Susanto. The project’s creators will be stand- ing by their displays tomorrow ready to go over all the details of their analy- sis to all curious students. Te mysteries of student life and Cold weather caution Four fatal car crashes over the weekend a warning for speedy drivers By VANESSA SZPURKO talities have Vancouverites ner- vous, a feeling Langara student drivers know all too well. Langara student Tammy Chan, origi- nally from Hong Kong, finds most Van- couver driving less stressful than driv- ing in Asia. However, she does take transit more in the winter months because she is not as at ease driving in cold-weather con- ditions. “In poor weather we need to adjust our driving for the conditions that we encounter,” said Leanne Cassap, a road -safety coordinator at ICBC. “Slow down, increase your following distance and give yourselves plenty of time to get to your destination.” Te recent spike in car-related fa- Cassap attributes the higher rates of crashes in the wintertime to speeding drivers. She stressed the need for in- creased reaction time. “Speeding is the leading cause of fa- tal car crashes in B.C., and we know that seven of 10 speed related crashes are related to driving too fast for road conditions,” she said. Langara student Kathy Do has been driving a rental car to schoo] because she was recently rear-ended at a red light. She thinks people are being too reckless when they drive. “People are being less careful - com- ing up to a turn too quickly and not shoulder checking and watching for pe- destrians like they should be,” said Do. “Tt’s not that the rules need to be changed, it’s that people need to be more careful.” 66 Speeding is the lead- ing cause of fatal car crashes in B.C. Leanne Cassap [= VANESSA SZPURKO photo Kathy Do has been driving a rental car since she was recently rear-ended.