Designated driver

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A designated driver is an individual within a group of people drinking alcoholic beverages at an event/establishment who promises to remain sober to drive the others home afterwards. In order to encourage these arrangements, some proprietors will offer free non-alcoholic drinks to designated drivers.[1]

Various college and high school organizations, such as CARPOOL at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas and BUSY at Gulfport High School in Gulfport, Mississippi and RAMRIDEat Colorado State University, offer to give free rides home on weekend nights to fellow students. Doctors for Designated Driving is the voice of the medical community in promoting designated driving. Although Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) originally opposed the concept because it enables some people to continue drinking, it now supports designated driving.

Numerous businesses have sprouted up across the United States to help address the problem of drinking and driving. NightRiders, Incorporated was the first U.S. designated-driver-for-hire service to use collapsible, motorized scooters. It was founded in 2001 in Boulder, Colorado by Gary Calnan, Brad Dickerhofe, and Carl Grodnik. The business employed drivers equipped with collapsible, motorized scooters. The drivers drove customers home in the own vehicles, stowing the scooters in the customer's trunk. Upon arrival to the customer's destination, the driver collected the fare, assembled the scooter, and rode off to the next customer.

In Europe, the Bob campaign aims to raise awareness of the dangers of driving while intoxicated and, more specifically, promotes the idea of a designated driver.

The adoption of the designated driver program was an undertaking of Jay Winsten’s Harvard Center for Health Communication. They imported a pattern of activity from Scandanavia - that one person in a group refrain from drinking in order to drive - into US culture through careful coordination with the media. It seems like there are a lot of interesting lessons to be learned here: [1]

"The Harvard Alcohol Project represented a genuine breakthrough for public health. It marked the first time that a health institution joined forces with the communications industry on a project of this magnitude. All major Hollywood studios participated along with the ABC, CBS, and NBC television networks. Channels, a respected trade journal, called the extent of this industry involvement "unparalleled," and The New York Times lauded the initiative in an editorial."

"According to industry estimates, the Project received over $100 million annually in network air time, utilizing under $300,000 in annual grants."

"Designated driver" became a household phrase in the U.S. to such an extent that the term appeared in the 1991 Random House Webster's College Dictionary. Public opinion polls documented the rapid, wide acceptance and strong popularity of the designated driver concept. According to the Roper Poll, the proportion of Americans serving as a designated driver reached 37% in 1991. Among Americans under the age of 30, 52% had actually been a designated driver. Among frequent drinkers, 54% had been driven home by a designated driver. The Wirthlin Group reported that nearly 9 out of 10 respondents in the country were familiar with the designated driver program and they gave it a favorability rating of 81 on a 100-point scale; the designated driver program rated higher than all other programs or industries rated."

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[edit] References

  1. ^ CHEERS General FAQ's. University of Missouri-Columbia. Retrieved on 2006-11-13.
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