SMOKE AND (BROKEN) MIRRORS smoking bans ... have led to an increase in drunk-driving fatalities.

ncpa.org ^ | July 31, 2008

[InvisibleChurch]

In recent years, state and local governments across the United States have passed measures to outlaw smoking in bars, says the American. The public health rationale is simple: to protect bar patrons and employees from exposure to secondhand smoke.

But according to economists Scott Adams of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Chad Cotti of the University of South Carolina, smoking bans have had some unintended and deadly consequences. Specifically, they have led to an increase in drunk-driving fatalities.

The economists studied a variety of municipalities that passed smoking bans. According to their research:

The passage of the bans led to a significant increase in the danger posed by drunk drivers. Fatal accidents involving a drunk driver increase by about 13 percent; this is approximately 2.5 fatal accidents a year for a typical county. The evidence is consistent with two mechanisms -- smokers searching for alternative locations to drink and smokers driving to nearby jurisdictions that allow smoking in bars, say Adams and Cotti.

Adams says smoking bans should still be supported, because the health benefits still outweigh the health costs. Cotti recommends that smoke-free communities increase DUI enforcement measures to provide drivers with appropriate disincentives.

Source: "Smoke and (Broken) Mirrors," The American, July/August 2008; based upon: Scott Adams and Chad Cotti, "The Effect of Smoking Bans on Bars and Restaurants: An Analysis of Changes in Employment," University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee/university of South Carolina, 2007.

For study:

http://ideas.repec.org/a/bep/eapcon/v7y2007i1p1628-1628.html

For more on Regulatory Issues:

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=38

[Eric Blair 2084]

This is a bogus study in itself to lend credence to another bogus study.

Much like the first bogus study, the second bogus study doesn’t even pass the laugh test.

If smokers can’t smoke in bars, they won’t drive 10 miles away and spend $4 per beer...they will stay home and buy a 30 pack of Miller Lite for $20 and spend 65 cents per beer at a buddies house, play pool, watch TV and smoke as much as they want with their friends.....then they will stumble upstairs and pass out instead of driving.

So smoking bans actually prevent DWI.

Where is my government grant check for producing this brilliant research????

[Stonefly]

That’s what happens when the Commie-Crats are allowed to perpetrate their Utopian Mao-isms in our “free” country. Voting for these morons is dangerous to liberty. I hope they choke on butts in hell!

[csense]

The only thing to do is close all the bars. End of problem.

So long as there are at least two human beings within proximity of each other, it'll never be over. This leads to an interesting observation: There is an inverse relationship between freedom and population.