Dealing With Intoxicated Drivers

You're at a party and your friend has had a little too much drink. He insists he's fine and capable of driving home. He jumps into his car and is about to drive off.

In an in-class or online drivers education course, you'd learn exactly what to do in a situation like this. But if you haven't yet taken a drivers training course, and have found yourself wondering what to do, we're here to offer you some advice on what to do in a variety of drunk driving situations to help everyone stay safe on the road.

My Friend Doesn't Think He's Drunk

We can't stress this enough. Do whatever you can to make sure your friend doesn't get behind the wheel. Try every angle to take his keys away. Use humor. Be serious. Confuse him. Distract him. Remind him about that drunk driving story you heard in Driver's Ed. In his hands, that key is a weapon. In a sober situation, he would know that. He would have learned the dangers of drinking and driving in any driver education course. But when you're impaired, you're incapable of making smart decisions.

Offer him a safe drive home yourself. If you don't have a car, offer to drive his. If you are unable to drive, call a taxi.

Intoxicated people can become angry. If your friend is insistent on getting behind the wheel, call the police. Doing so might prevent a serious accident on the road. Remember, you are not calling the cops on your friend. You are calling the cops on a dangerous situation and encouraging driver safety. If he drives drunk, he might end up dead.

I think I Witnessed Drunk Driving

It's a Wednesday evening. You're out for your evening jog with your golden retriever, Spencer. It's typically quiet in your neighborhood. The only noise you hear is your dog panting. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a car speeds toward you, driving erratically. He's speeding up, slowing down, swerving, going through stop signs, and violating virtually every traffic law ever learned in Driver's Ed.

It appears that the driver is drunk. Unfortunately, you're not 100% sure. Maybe it's just a new driver who didn't do too well in driving school. Maybe it's a new car owner just getting used to driving a manual transmission vehicle.

Either way, the right thing to do is to call the police and inform them of the odd behavior. If you were able to catch the license plate number, that definitely helps. However, any description including the direction in which the car is traveling will be of assistance. The police will be able to determine why this driver is driving unsafely and stop them in their tracks.

Do Whatever It Takes

Making sure that we all stay safe on the road is everyone's responsibility. If you witness an intoxicated driver attempting to drive a vehicle or already out on the road, you need to help stop them. Not only are they violating the law, but they're also driving unsafely and endangering people's lives.

Every year in this country, thousands of people die in alcohol-related driving accidents and hundreds of thousands are injured. If we can help bring that number down by stopping a drunk driver, everybody wins.