We’re Losing the War Against Drunk Driving. Here’s How to Fight Back
When actress Mariette Hartley portrayed me in a television movie about my efforts to reshape the nation’s attitude toward drunk driving, Hollywood had just started taking the issue seriously.
Mariette remains an amazing actress and received an Emmy nomination for her work; she even stayed in my home to learn more about the impact on my family after my 13-year-old daughter Cari was killed on May 3, 1980, in Fair Oaks, California, by a three-time repeat offender, out of jail just two days after a 4th DUI arrest. Cari and a friend were walking to a church carnival.
Today, I see more and more signs the media and the public try to overlook, glamorize, or explain away drunk driving, as well as drugged and distracted driving.
For instance, Josh Brolin, the actor, is brutally honest in addressing his history of substance misuse in his recent autobiography and has expressed many regrets. Yet, throughout the book, there are multiple occasions where the reader can infer he or others drove while under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, or LSD. He admirably writes in gritty detail about his journey to sobriety but leaves out any insights about driving while under the influence.
It would have made such a difference if he had only noted how dangerous this behavior was and how he would not encourage anyone to copy it.
This is not to pick on Brolin. There are examples every day of indifference, if not adulation, of intoxicated driving. A Wall Street Journal columnist wrote about the “outlaw pleasures” of securing a fake ID when he was underage so he could drink beer. Later in the piece, he states that he was still “learning the art” of driving. The connection between drinking and driving is subtle, but the piece has an air of harmless rebellion.
Every day, about 37 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes, or one person every 39 minutes. These are loved ones who will not be celebrating the holidays this year. To put this in context, drunk driving deaths have skyrocketed 33% in just three years, rising from 10,196 in 2019 to 13,524 in 2022, the latest year statistics are available.
We need to understand better why this is happening and how influential entertainment has taken a shift in attitudes toward DUIs. Unbelievably, we’ve gone from Stevie Wonder singing “Don’t Drive Drunk” to “Blinding Lights,” which songwriter/singer the Weeknd says is about drunk driving.
If you want more evidence that DUIs are viewed as a nuisance, look at social media. For example, it’s easy to find users posting videos of them under the influence while behind the wheel of an “auto-pilot” vehicle.
Don’t even get me started on what people post in comment sections. When a suspected drunk driver hit and killed a bicyclist in Boca Raton, Florida, some Facebook posters blamed the victim. One wrote: “I strongly feel bicycles do not belong on the road. Way too dangerous for the rider and, also, I have seen too many bicyclists have a cocky attitude.”
Public policy can help, of course, including civil and criminal penalties for driving while intoxicated. But norms and attitudes matter, too. Despite our concerns, people and entertainers will always say and produce what they want. Individuals should turn inward, especially on New Year’s Eve, and ask, “What can I do to help save lives?”
The answer is to take the Courage to Intervene Promise, which states:
I will stop my friends and loved ones from driving buzzed, drunk, or drugged
I will not ride with them if they are under any kind of influence, and will encourage others to do the same
I will stop my friends from using their cell phones while driving
I will not risk my life to keep others from killing themselves or someone else
I will have the Courage to Intervene
Because I Care . . .
Promising to drive safely and intervene during the holidays, especially on New Year’s Eve, is the best gift we can give ourselves and our loved ones.
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