If you thought downtown sidewalks seemed unusually packed over the weekend for a game against Boise State, then you weren’t alone.

But trust me, Boise State wasn’t the reason, the smoking ban was.

This weekend marked the first game since the Athens-Clarke County Commission passed a round-the-clock ban on smoking indoors.

Smokers, who now are not allowed to light up inside bars and clubs, are forced to huddle around doorways and in outdoor seating areas.

I am not a smoker and I don’t mind people smoking around me. However, I do understand the need to keep second-hand smoke away from those who do mind.

But the smoking ordinance is broken.

The ban the commission passed in July puts an even greater burden on police, who besides handling drunk drivers and fights, now have to manage greater crowds on the sidewalk.

It also increases the amount litter on the streets because of cigarette butts.

Proponents of the ban have said such arguments don’t recognize the need to protect people in bars.

Now, I realize that smoking on the sidewalk is better than smoking inside for the people in the bars, but what about the people walking down the sidewalk?

Moving smokers to outdoor seating areas, which tend to be near the front door, does not solve the problem.

It simply creates a new one.

Second-hand smoke is now an issue for pedestrians who walk the sidewalks not by choice, but by necessity, to get from place to place.

All this ban does is trade public health for public safety.

According to one downtown cop I spoke with, people are being told to call 911 if someone is smoking in a bar. If such a call is made, the officer must respond to it, potentially taking him away from more pressing emergencies.

The same point must be extended to the safety of someone who becomes injured or sick in a bar.

Big crowds around bar entrances are the last thing cops and medics need to deal with when trying to rescue someone.

Now, with an environment more conducive to fighting and underage drinking (with larger crowds, underage drinkers can more easily slide by the doorman), it might be important to ask the Athens-Clarke County commission where drunk driving ranks on its list of concerns.

Driving under the influence is more dangerous than second-hand smoke. It just is.

For some, the logical next step might be to just do away with smoking downtown altogether.

Such a step would solve every problem I just raised with the current ban.

Yet, smoking is a legal act for people over the age of 18.

Beware of laws designed to rid people of their personal rights.

Saying that it’s not that big of a deal for smokers to step outside to smoke is not a good argument.

In trying to fix one problem, ACC created a number of greater ones.

Whatever happened to smoking rooms?

Why couldn’t bars that do not have enough sidewalk space for outdoor seating, such as Nowhere Bar, be allowed a special permit for smoking rooms or levels?

And why couldn’t we dedicate the lower levels of bars be for smokers where they won’t annoy non-smokers?

These concessions might seem like a lot of trouble, but I don’t think it’s too much if it supports, at least in part, people’s right to choose what to do with their bodies.

I have spoken with cops, bartenders and people partying downtown — not exactly the people lobbying for anti-smoking laws.

And yet the smokers I have talked to still respect the need to prevent secondhand smoke.

Preventing second-hand smoke makes sense. What doesn’t make sense are the current laws we have to prevent it.

They jeopardize public saftey and create unnecessary problems.

— Brandon Lowe is a senior majoring in magazines and history