Secondhand crashing

Prohibiting smoking in public places does not save lives (no one has ever died from secondhand smoke), all smoking bans do is make smokers miserable. Or at least that’s what I thought, but it turns out smoking bans kill:

According to a new study released, smoking bans have been linked to an increase in drunk driving accidents. It appears that since people cannot smoke in many restaurants and bars, they are now turning to drinking, and it is getting dangerous.

The study was carried out by researchers at the University of Washington and looked at data from 2000 to 2005.

They found that instead of going to a bar for a drink and a smoke, people are now more likely to go farther away to someone’s home where they can do both without any trouble.

The longer drives put them at an increased risk of accident.

The researchers found that in communities where smoking bans are in effect, there is a 12% increase in the number of drunk driving accidents.

Don’t expect anti-smoking fanatics to relent merely because people are dying. Why would they? The claims about public health concerns have always mostly been an excuse for persecution. Anti-smokers envy the social ease of smokers, and therefore can't tolerate smoking even in places they themselves do not go.