Smoking Bans Increase DUI rates: Of Cancer sticks and stick shifts

Cigarettes and alcohol make a natural pairing. Before cigarettes were invented, people's non-drinking hand would be used to say, illustrate a point about macro economic theory or indicate 'two more please' while the other would be tested keeping the contents of the glass level as your bar legs gave way.

In fact, many vices go together quite naturally, such as pulling the slot machine lever while taking copious sips of complimentary cranberry-based cocktails, or using a pint of your favorite lager to down a nighttimes' worth of pharmaceutical pleasures, while laying down $5 bets on whether the next person to enter a bar was male or female.
In the first study of its kind, a study in the Journal of Public Economics (a real page turner, especially if you're doing hard time and have reading materials restricted) looked at the relationship between the recent spate of smoking bans and DUI rates and the results have anti-smoking advocates fuming.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University of South Carolina noticed there was an increase in drunk driving accidents in non-smoking cities, as well as the boundary lines that surrounded them. Their conclusion: people like to smoke while drinking (duh) and will go to great lengths to find a bar where you can do both.

Another possibility: people unable to smoke in bars, will light up in their cars drunk, compromising the 'keep your hands on the 9 and 3 o'clock position of the wheel' driving school admonition (resulting in the less popular/effective, 'one hand on 6 o'clock with a cigarette in the other, puffing out the window while listening to Journey's greatest hits' position).

We're not entirely sure what impact this study will have, but we could sure go for a smoke and a cold one right about now.