Fooled me there for a moment. I read it as owls (hoot variety) instead of O.W.I's
Posted on 04/03/2008 3:02:53 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Enacting city smoking bans appears to increase drunken driving, a study of arrests conducted by Wisconsin researchers asserts.
A national study to be released by the Journal of Public Economics found an increase of fatal accidents involving alcohol after communities prohibited smoking, compared to arrests in communities without a ban.
The authors attribute that to people driving to places without a ban, and also to driving farther to find a place within a ban area that has an outdoor smoking accommodation, such as a patio.
"The increased miles driven by drivers who wish to smoke and drink offsets any reduction in driving from smokers choosing to stay home after a ban, resulting in increased alcohol-related accidents," the study says.
The authors, Scott Adams of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Economics Department and Chad Cotti, currently at the University of South Carolina, call the results "surprising."
"We thought we would see a reduction," Adams said. "Our first thought was, 'Throw it away, it must be wrong.' "
However, Adams said the claim is backed up by the data.
The 2-year study looks at highway fatality data involving a driver with blood alcohol content over 0.08 in cities and counties with bans and compares it to incidences in surrounding areas without bans. The study was not funded by outside organizations, the authors said.
Results show an increase in accidents in areas after smoking bans were enacted and near the jurisdiction lines.
Smoke Free Wisconsin Executive Director Maureen Busalacchi said she was skeptical.
"People travel to a myriad of places," Busalacchi said today. "How would you possibly control all those factors?"
Busalacchi said she did not agree with linking accidents to the ban because people could be traveling to drink for different reasons than just to smoke at a bar.
"How in the world you would figure out where people are traveling unless you are interviewing them?" she asked.
Adams said the results were comparable nationwide, with the exception of New England, where there are many smoking bans.
The study, which used data from 2001 to 2005, did not look at counties in Wisconsin.
The state was probably ruled out, Adams said, because Appleton and its ban was too small an area and data collection started before Madison's 2005 smoke ban.
Although Adams said he is not necessarily a policy advocate, he said a well-enforced national smoking ban would get rid of the drunken driving increases related to smoke bans.
Busalacchi said Wisconsin is getting closer to becoming smoke-free by passing community laws.
"Clearly, for the health of our public, we need to do this on a statewide basis, and clearly communities are moving pretty quickly," Busalacchi said.
Fitchburg's smoking ban started April 1, Eau Claire's will start July 1 and Marshfield residents just approved a ban Tuesday.
Nah. They intended it. Ruin businesses, kill smokers? That's a no-brainer for Nanny Staters.
Great. Now we'll have the antismokers and the MADD types working together even more closely to usher in the Nanny State.
Fooled me there for a moment. I read it as owls (hoot variety) instead of O.W.I's
That’s one handsome stone-cold killer. That heart-shaped face makes me think of a favorite Teddy Bear gone psycho, LOL!
Psssst! Over here!
What the heck is OWI?
Out While Intoxicated?
Operating With Immunity?
What?
DC uses exactly that argument, to explain why the gun ban has never worked. The even used it in their brief to the USSC in Heller.
On night we watched one of our adult barn owls catch a big Norway rat (about the same size as the owl) that we were afraid might turn the tables on the owl. Our worries were wasted as the owl very quickly dispatched the rat (would have taken our terrier 15 or 20 minutes...or at least it had in the past) and started dishing out servings to his nearly mature baby owls.
OWI = Operating While Intoxicated.
Also known as “DUI” in some states.
DUI = Driving Under (the) Influence
What a neat thing to see. My cats brought me a big, fat vole last night, LOL!
We did have a Great Horned Owl in our chicken coop a few summers ago. There was quite the ruckus down there at 2am; woke me up. Husband and I went to investigate and he was “roosting” right next to the chickens; didn’t hurt a one.
Husband got a sheet and chased him out. I was standing outside the coop while he did that, and when that owl flew past me (with about a 4 foot wing-span) he was completely silent in flight.
Death From Above. ;)
I recently read (probably here) that owls (screech, barn, hoot etc) are one of the most dangerous animals if they feel threatened, and inflict extreme damage on the persons stumbling upon them.
A lawsuit in waiting. I'd insist on my doctor being sober. (what a dumb name for a DUI)
A survival mechanism....come after my "nest" and I'll become even more dangerous.
Unless you're seriously threatening their nest, no problem.
A highschool buddy of mine had sent off on an ad in Field & Stream for a predator call.
It's supposed to sound like a dying rabbit or whatever. One night we took it out to a wooded area behind his barn and we were going to try a lure a fox.
Didn't go that way at all. He only blew the thing about three times before a great horned owl swooped down and captured his baseball cap before we knew what was happening and took it up into the trees. That scene stuck with me for a long time...and effectively retired that predator call for a while at least.
Screech owl
Hoot owl, big one
Nanny State PING.............
bookmark
Three-toed sloth. Don’t ever get within arms reach of one.
Especially under the triple canopy, on a dark, dark, night, in the jungles of Panama.
And if you should bump into one, say with your face, because it is sleeping upside down, hanging from a black palm (watch for splinters from the palm - it takes hours of surgery to remove them), do not scream like a little girl, thus compromising the security of your entire long rang jungle patrol, and alerting every little kid within miles of your location, kids who will immediately appear, mysteriously, out of the jungle, offering their sisters for a case of c-rats, or a hefty bag of pot for any little thing, like the patrols m-60 machine gun, and do not, by all means, allow the sloth to touch you with its claws, as it will remove whatever it touches, in graphic an horrifying slow motion, all the while the remainder of your ranger buddies are still laughing at your terrified shreek, and telling jokes, like, “Hurry up - biscuit kitchen closes in an hour!”
I dip myself and when I don’t have any I tend to compensate by over doing the booze.
Smokers are staying home and non-smokers cannot handle their booze and they suck at driving too.
Case closed.
That is EXACTLY what they are going for.
The OWI, DWI, DUI (or whatever) stats do not suprise me.
When we still lived in Delaware my husband and I frequently went to Maryland because of the smoker ban in Delaware.
After we moved to Virginia and got to know people bartenders and wait-staff were telling us how much their business had picked up because fo the Delaware ban. People who used to go to the Delaware beaches were coming here for vacation because of the ban.
Now that Maryland has banned smokers, business is picking up even more. My tips last Saturday night were more than triple what they were the week before and the majority of my customers were from Maryland. And don't forget, I tend bar in a members only private place - they can't smoke in them in Maryland.
Smoker bans are just a backdoor means of prohibition. Check out who is funding the anti-smoker groups. You will find out the same are also funding MADD, PETA, the anti-gun groups, etc.
People will drive further to be comfortable when spending their money.
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