So smoking-bans save lives, right? As it turns out, they kill:
The researchers analyzed data from 120 American counties, 20 of which had banned smoking. They found a smoking ban increased fatal alcohol-related car accidents by 13% in a typical county containing 680,000 people. This is the equivalent of 2.5 fatal accidents (equivalent to approximately six deaths). Furthermore, drunk-driving smokers have not changed their ways over time. In areas where the ban has been in place for longer than 18 months, the increased accident rate is 19%. The findings, say the pair, are consistent with the suggestion that smokers are driving farther to alternative places to drink. This may be because they are driving to bars with outdoor seating, or to bars which are not enforcing the smoking ban. Another explanation is that some smokers are “jurisdiction shopping” to places where they may puff. Accident rates can be especially high where border-hopping to still-smoky bars is possible.
Still a third explanation could be that people who aren’t allowed to smoke drink more. Lest we remember the words of Jean Baptiste Moliere–“Tobacco is the passion of all proper people, and he who lives without tobacco has nothing to live for”–many more could die in vain.
