# Smoking on the street \[cont'd\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 11, 2011, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-the-street-contd/571042 "2011-02-11T06:24:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 3
**Author:** ![Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fool_in_the_Rain)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-the-street-contd/571042/3 "2011-02-11T17:17:06Z")
> [@It should be ilegal to smoke on the street.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-should-be-ilegal-to-smoke-on-the-street/566434/1): > > Smoking on the street should be outlawed. Cities and towns could ban them, but the feds never will…there are several billion reasons why they won’t. Passing by a smoker will result in a brief moment of smell (Maybe), but otherwise be extremely limited in any other effects upon the passerby. Being an ex-smoker, I know and understand the dangers of smoking - and I don’t defend it. On the other hand, I find the attitudes of **some** non-smokers (i.e. never smoked) pretty deplorable. **Some** of these non-smokers (mind you **NOT** all) will chastise a smoker, yet will blissfully jump behind the wheel of car drunk as a skunk endangering multiple people. Drinking and driving is a voluntary activity and in most cases extremely dangerous to others, and is illegal. YET people continue to do so. Smokers cannot smoke in places of work, restaurants, bars, malls, stores, places of public gatherings (rental halls, VFWs, KofC, etc), sports arena, concert halls, most beaches, some parks, etc. etc. 99.9% of the time you will not find a person smoking in these locations. There is always the idiot(s) who ignores rules. Yet one can get drunk in most of these places, and jump into a car afterward. Two points: How many people have (conclusively) died from second-hand smoke? EPA has concluded that exposure to secondhand smoke can cause lung cancer in adults who do not smoke. EPA estimates that exposure to secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths per year] in nonsmokers. [http://www.epa.gov/smokefree/healtheffects.html](http://www.epa.gov/smokefree/healtheffects.html) How many people have died as a result of drunk driving? In 2008, 11,773 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (32%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States. [http://www.cdc.gov/MotorVehicleSafety/Impaired\_Driving/impaired-drv\_factsheet.html](http://www.cdc.gov/MotorVehicleSafety/Impaired_Driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html) Drinkers also stink. Some also stumble into others, can get rude, crude and lewd. Drunk drivers kill, main and injure. Some drinkers cause fights and altercations resulting in injuries, maiming, and death. Why isn’t there a louder and harsher cry to **also** ban drinking?? --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-on-the-street-contd/571042)._