The repeal of a ban on Sunday sales of alcohol in New Mexico was followed by a 29-percent rise in alcohol-related auto crashes on Sundays and a 42-percent increase in alcohol-related traffic deaths, researchers say.

Crashes and deaths have increased in the five years since the state repealed its "blue laws" banning Sunday alcohol sales, according to research funded by the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (SAPRP). During that period, there were 543 more alcohol-related crashes and 42 deaths on Sundays than in the five years prior to repeal.

"For the first time, we have real data on whether blue laws actually protect public health," said study co-author Garnett McMillan of the Behavioral Health Research Center of the Southwest. "Today's study finds that the Sunday ban saved lives and prevented hundreds of injuries and fatalities from alcohol-related crashes."

Sunday-sales bans also have been repealed recently in Delaware, Maine, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia, and many of the 15 states with such laws still in place have considered repeal.

The research was published online in the American Journal of Public Health.