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Written by Todd Morehead
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Tuesday, 03 June 2008 |
 Columbia’s ban on smoking in bars
could have ghastly consequences on the road
The front door at the Cock n’ Bull pub on Rosewood Drive is busier than most.
Sure, the pub-grille is quickly becoming one of Columbia’s more popular
watering holes, but the door hinges here get an extra workout for
another reason: the smokers filing in and out to light up on the deck
outside.
In fact, the pub’s staunch smoke-free ethos is one of the many reasons it has become so popular. And the smokers who frequent the Cock n’ Bull don’t seem to mind the rule too terribly. Besides, they can just hop down the street to a bar that allows smoking. But when a citywide ban on smoking in bars goes into effect Oct. 1, those smokers may have to drive to West Columbia to light up indoors.
That could create a regional dilemma. Driving that extra distance to a smoke-filled bar may have dangerous consequences for everyone on the road.
A recent study by a University of South Carolina professor found that drunk driving fatalities increase an average of 13 percent after smoking bans in bars are enacted in municipalities and counties located near other municipalities and counties without bans.
Chad Cotti, director of undergraduate education for the USC Department of Economics, conducted the study at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee before coming to USC. Cotti and fellow researcher Scott Adams at UWM analyzed National Highway Traffic Safety data from more than 100 locations around the United States and found that smokers are willing drive longer distances — outside city limits or to another county — to bars that allow smoking. Longer distance means a longer drunken drive home and, as a result, more drinking-related driving fatalities.
“We were able to test to see if communities bordering those passing smoking bans saw an increase in alcohol-related fatalities after their neighbor county passed their ban (relative to control counties), and in each and every instance, we found an increase in fatalities was present,” Cotti told City Paper. “These results are indicative of ‘cross-border shopping’ behavior, which is commonplace among consumers of other products where policies may vary between jurisdiction, and, hence, create an incentive to cross-borders and increase driving.
“After controlling for other factors that could influence the probability of being in an accident,” he continues, “there are only two simple explanations for an observed increase in drunk driving accidents; people are drinking more or driving more. Both are possible, but we were only able to test for the latter as part of our study.”
Of course, there’s no real way to predict what will happen in Columbia when the ban takes effect, but with West Columbia and Lexington County nearby, the factors for Cotti’s “cross-border shopping” scenario are present.
“One might infer that where Columbia borders areas that allow smoking and drinking, there may be an increase [in drinking-related driving fatalities],” Cotti says. “Of course, there are other characteristics that might play a role, such as Columbia’s level of DUI enforcement and penalties, number of smokers, smoking-ban enforcement, etc., which could cause the effect of the ban on drunk driving to be much higher or much lower.”
The study is the second on the topic of smoking bans for Cotti and Adams, who originally studied what effect smoking bans have on bar and restaurant revenue and employment. Cotti says in their first study they found smoking bans had little effect on restaurant employment, though the ban slightly reduced bar employment.
“Now these were average effects,” he clarifies, “so it is possible that any one restaurant or bar could see much stronger positive or negative outcomes. We also found that climate and season seemed to play an important role in the size and direction of the effects, indicating that the availability of outdoor seating might play a role.”
But drunk-driving fatalities and economic factors aside, the researchers believe the overall positive health benefits of smoking bans outweigh the negatives. Cotti stresses any increase in drunk driving estimated in the study will eventually have to be weighed against the positive health impacts before a determination of a ban’s overall value to society can be made.
“My instincts tell me that after all the pros and cons are weighed, the net effect of smoking bans will be positive in the long run,” he says. “Moreover, much of the concern about drunk driving raised in our [study] could be alleviated if smoke-free communities increase DUI enforcement.”
Cotti and Adams have compiled data for a forthcoming report on the effect smoking bans in bars have on reported cases of heart disease.
“Our findings are qualitatively similar to early case studies,” he says, “which find that smoking bans reduce heart-related deaths. In our case, the reduction seems to be most prevalent among individuals aged 25to 54. We observe approximately a 5 percent reduction in heart death among this age group.”
In Columbia, public opinion on the proposed smoking ban has been split, to put it kindly.
Yet one smoker at least sees a silver lining in the ban. A 28-year-old coordinator at an area nonprofit, who spoke on condition of anonymity, believes outdoor smoking areas at places like Cock n’ Bull help him “get laid more,” because being forced to leave the bar to smoke provides him the opportunity to chat up female smokers outside.
“We’ve already got something in common in that we both smoke and they feel vulnerable due to being socially outcast,” he says, grinning, and then adds. “And guess who’s out there in the cold with them with a lighter and some comforting words?”
A nearby patron is less optimistic. “This is just another example of liberal fascism at its worst,” he says, a cigarette in one hand and a mixed drink in the other. He shrugs. “Now I guess I'll have to destroy my body by swimming in the Broad River.”
In reality, all he’ll have to do is make the trip across the Congaree River to West Columbia.
The nonprofit coordinator considers that for a moment. “You know,” he says, “I think this is the first time anyone has ever said this — but thank God for Lexington County.”
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Last Updated ( Monday, 09 June 2008 )
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