Posted on 06/07/2007 1:05:03 PM PDT by Kimmers
Proposal Would Have Doors Swing Out, Not In
BOSTON -- If Bellingham resident Douglas Flavin has his way, all public bathroom doors in Massachusetts will open outward, not inward.
The Legislature's Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight reviewed the bill Wednesday. State Rep. James Vallee (D-Franklin) filed the bill on Flavin's behalf.
Survey: What Do You Think?
"[Think] how easy it would be to prevent germs and disease," Flavin's wife Tracy told BostonNow. "If state residents could open bathroom doors with a knee or elbow instead of a handle."
Flavin also claimed it would prevent litter resulting from people protecting their hands with paper towels.
A representative for the state Department of Public Safety told the newspaper that the state building code does not specify the direction public bathroom doors must open.
Oh my! Let’s imagine you kick the door open and someone is standing on the other side. They might get a nose bleed and everyone woulb be exposed to communicable disease.
Good grief, when will the government quit micro-managing our lives! Oh yeah, never.
These must be some of those creeps who never flush the toilets (presumably to avoid touching anything).
But then the air from the bathroom would be sucked out, instead of the air from the outside being sucked in. This would expose the entire building to odors and bacteria from the bathroom, rather than containing it within the bathroom and having it processed through normal air filtration, not to mention the risk of the door opening on the face of someone passing by or getting ready to enter the bathroom.
No, this is fraught, extremely fraught. Leave well enough alone.
You know, all architects are idiots. They can’t figure things out based on local conditions or usage patterns. What they really need is a bunch of uneducated, ignorant politicians imposing a one-size-fits-all policy from hundreds of miles away.
Let’s make them out of clear glass and you can see if someone is coming or going...
We need less stupid laws, not more. It amy or may not be a good idea, we just don’t need another frickin law!
This is what you get when you have a Legislature in session all year.
Why don’t they just take the doors off?
That’s actually a fetish. Don’t be hating the diversity crowd.
Actually, this really *should* be standard practice.
Dang it. Now that I see it is Massachucetts, why wouldn’t they just put in doors that “swing both ways?”
“”[Think] how easy it would be to prevent germs and disease,” Flavin’s wife Tracy told BostonNow. “If state residents could open bathroom doors with a knee or elbow instead of a handle.”
A survey of cleanliness (germs) in public bathrooms showed that the CLEANEST place was the inside door handle/knob.
Jerry Seinfeld suggested that people be allowed to use rope swings to move in and out of the bathroom, so you can swing in, pee, and swing out without touching anything. Leave it to a germaphobe.
Doesn’t matter which way the doors open; use the paper towel you dry your hands with after washing them to open the door. If there’s a trash receptacle within reach, drop the towel in it as you exit. Otherwise carry it to the next trash can you see after leaving the restroom.
Why do people have to try to make things like this so difficult?
Clare: What’s wrong with the belt?< /seinfeld >Jerry: I went to the movies last night, I went to the bathroom and I unbuckled a little wobbly and the buckle kind of banged against the side of the urinal. So…(throws away belt) that’s it!
Clare: So, you’re insane?
Jerry: Oh yes, quite.
heh, heh. Well said.
They mentioned that people were littering with the paper towels they used on the doors. Of course, it would be easily solved by putting the trash can OUTSIDE, instead of inside.
They could put motors on the doors, so you can just push a button. That also makes them handicap-friendly, I’m surprised in a liberal state like Mass. they haven’t already mandated that every bathroom be wheelchair and double-amputee accessable.
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