There is no doubt that drunk drivers kill thousands annually. And I am sure
Tom's viewpoint is somewhat biased based on his service with the EMT's and
seeing folks killed on the road from drunk drivers.

But there is also no doubt that smoking (including the effects of second
hand smoke) is more of a killer and a drain on our health care dollars.

Yes but if you take out the health insurance there is a much higher cost
because of the court fees induced with drunk driving. if you are not impared
but just over the legal limit you get a DWI. How much money is spent on
check points, random traffic stops and police enforcement to make MADD happy
about what is being done? That may be the costs they are reffering to. I
don't drink at all but I have been pulled over several times and done
sobriety tests late at night when leaving work or just driving home from a
night out. Since I wasn't drinkng there could have been no external signs of
drunk driving but still a cop was paid to pull me over and check. Extra cops
are put on the streets to run checks, extra clerks and judges are needed for
the increased demand on teh court system not to mention lawyers.

I do agree that smoking has a much higher effect on health care but the
government system of enforcing drinking and driving is really expensive. I
can't say with any numbers if it is higher than those for smoking but maybe
that is where these two to one numbers are from. They really shouldn't
complain because they are self impossed. if you don't pull people over then
you don't have to pay for all the stuff that goes along with it.

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