1897 : First drunk driving arrest
On this day in 1897, a 25-year-old London taxi driver named George
Smith becomes the first person ever arrested for drunk driving after
slamming his cab into a building. Smith later pled guilty and was
fined 25 shillings.
In the United States, the first laws against operating a motor vehicle
while under the influence of alcohol went into effect in New York in
1910. In 1936, Dr. Rolla Harger, a professor of biochemistry and
toxicology, patented the Drunkometer, a balloon-like device into which
people would breathe to determine whether they were inebriated. In
1953, Robert Borkenstein, a former Indiana state police captain and
university professor who had collaborated with Harger on the
Drunkometer, invented the Breathalyzer. Easier-to-use and more
accurate than the Drunkometer, the Breathalyzer was the first
practical device and scientific test available to police officers to
establish whether someone had too much to drink. A person would blow
into the Breathalyzer and it would gauge the proportion of alcohol
vapors in the exhaled breath, which reflected the level of alcohol in
the blood.
Despite the invention of the Breathalyzer and other developments, it
was not until the late 1970s and early 1980s that public awareness
about the dangers of drinking and driving increased and lawmakers and
police officers began to get tougher on offenders. In 1980, a
Californian named Candy Lightner founded Mothers Against Drunk
Driving, or MADD, after her 13-year-old daughter Cari was killed by a
drunk driver while walking home from a school carnival. The driver had
three previous drunk-driving convictions and was out on bail from a
hit-and-run arrest two days earlier. Lightner and MADD were
instrumental in helping to change attitudes about drunk driving and
pushed for legislation that increased the penalties for driving under
the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. MADD also helped get the
minimum drinking age raised in many states. Today, the legal drinking
age is 21 everywhere in the United States and convicted drunk drivers
face everything from jail time and fines to the loss of their driver's
licenses and increased car insurance rates. Some drunk drivers are
ordered to have ignition interlock devices installed in their
vehicles. These devices require a driver to breath into a sensor
attached to the dashboard; the car won't start if the driver's blood
alcohol concentration is above a certain limit.
Despite the stiff penalties and public awareness campaigns, drunk
driving remains a serious problem in the United States. In 2005,
16,885 people died in alcohol-related crashes and almost 1.4 million
people were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or
drugs.
history.com/tdih.do
1608 : Smith to lead Jamestown
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5331
1813 : The Battle of Lake Erie
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5332
1977 : The guillotine falls silent
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5333
1981 : Guernica returned to Spain
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=7016
##########################################
On this day in 1897, a 25-year-old London taxi driver named George
Smith becomes the first person ever arrested for drunk driving after
slamming his cab into a building. Smith later pled guilty and was
fined 25 shillings.
In the United States, the first laws against operating a motor vehicle
while under the influence of alcohol went into effect in New York in
1910. In 1936, Dr. Rolla Harger, a professor of biochemistry and
toxicology, patented the Drunkometer, a balloon-like device into which
people would breathe to determine whether they were inebriated. In
1953, Robert Borkenstein, a former Indiana state police captain and
university professor who had collaborated with Harger on the
Drunkometer, invented the Breathalyzer. Easier-to-use and more
accurate than the Drunkometer, the Breathalyzer was the first
practical device and scientific test available to police officers to
establish whether someone had too much to drink. A person would blow
into the Breathalyzer and it would gauge the proportion of alcohol
vapors in the exhaled breath, which reflected the level of alcohol in
the blood.
Despite the invention of the Breathalyzer and other developments, it
was not until the late 1970s and early 1980s that public awareness
about the dangers of drinking and driving increased and lawmakers and
police officers began to get tougher on offenders. In 1980, a
Californian named Candy Lightner founded Mothers Against Drunk
Driving, or MADD, after her 13-year-old daughter Cari was killed by a
drunk driver while walking home from a school carnival. The driver had
three previous drunk-driving convictions and was out on bail from a
hit-and-run arrest two days earlier. Lightner and MADD were
instrumental in helping to change attitudes about drunk driving and
pushed for legislation that increased the penalties for driving under
the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. MADD also helped get the
minimum drinking age raised in many states. Today, the legal drinking
age is 21 everywhere in the United States and convicted drunk drivers
face everything from jail time and fines to the loss of their driver's
licenses and increased car insurance rates. Some drunk drivers are
ordered to have ignition interlock devices installed in their
vehicles. These devices require a driver to breath into a sensor
attached to the dashboard; the car won't start if the driver's blood
alcohol concentration is above a certain limit.
Despite the stiff penalties and public awareness campaigns, drunk
driving remains a serious problem in the United States. In 2005,
16,885 people died in alcohol-related crashes and almost 1.4 million
people were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or
drugs.
history.com/tdih.do
1608 : Smith to lead Jamestown
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5331
1813 : The Battle of Lake Erie
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5332
1977 : The guillotine falls silent
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5333
1981 : Guernica returned to Spain
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=7016
##########################################
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