Mark Snyder wrote:
> I don't know whether Tim Bonham drives and I'm not sure why
> it matters, but it seems to me that the motor vehicle analogy
> would serve as an argument for a smoking ban in bars/restaurants
> rather than against it.
> We recognize the dangers that operating a motor vehicle can
> pose, so we regulate it. You cannot just drive anywhere or
> any way you please. We have traffic rules and other restrictions
> in place that are (theoretically) designed to reduce the hazards
> posed by operating motor vehicles.
>
> Why should smoking cigarettes be any different?
If I were to smoke in an enclosed space there is a certain
probability (as yet to be convincingly determined) that it
might cause you some injury. Although I knowingly accept
this risk to you, you have voluntary entered our shared
space with full knowledge of the risk.
When you drive there is a certain probability (actually better
established) that you may cause me some injury. I can even
eliminate my responsibility for putting you at any risk by
using public transportation and still be injured by your
vehicle simply by walking on the street (at possibly a
higher probability than the risk from secondhand smoke).
My question is: Why are anti-smoking advocates so worried about
protecting people from a risk that they knowingly take, when
at the same time they are willing to put lives at risk,
possibly at an even higher probability, by driving?
This is all rhetorical anyway, because we already know
(and ignore) that there is a solution that reduces the
risk of secondhand smoke in bars and restaurants to close
to zero.
Michael Atherton
Prospect Park
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