Here’s an actual peer-reviewed study which finds that enacting smoking bans in bars kills innocent people. Kills them because smokers drive longer distances — and possibly drink more in the process — in order to find a bar they can smoke in.
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee economists Scott Adams and Chad Cotti conducted the study. ScienceDaily reports:
“Like they would to buy fireworks, lotto tickets or, in some cases, alcohol, people will often go to a neighboring jurisdiction that doesn’t have a ban,” says Adams. The number of smokers willing to drive extra distances offsets any reduction in driving from smokers choosing to stay home following a ban, he adds.
Using fatalities as a gauge in the study is more accurate than using data on DUIs, since drunk-driving laws are not uniformly enforced, he says.
It is the basic law of unintended consequences at work. Worse, the drunk-driving element puts the entire local population at risk, not just those people who choose to work in or patronize bars that allow smoking.
