TABLE 1—

Prevailing Attitudes, Investigative Methods, and Preventive Strategies Toward Drunk Driving: Pre-1980s and Today

Common Attitudes and Practices	Before the 1980s	Today
Prevailing beliefs about the use of alcohol	Alcohol promotes bad decisions	Individuals are responsible for their own behavior when they drink
Prevailing attitudes toward perpetrators (drunk drivers)	Empathy for drivers “suffering” from alcoholism	Public outrage at drunk drivers
Prevailing attitudes toward victims	Peripheral damage caused by the disease of alcoholism	Empathy for victims of drunk drivers
Investigative norms	Tolerance for high blood-alcohol levels	Standardized protocols to identify and arrest drunk drivers  Breathalyzer  Random traffic stops  Arrest protocols
Mobilization of citizen messengers	None	Mobilization of victims’ families
Federal sanctions for lack of state laws or lax enforcement	None	Federal highway funds linked to state laws and enforcement
Community engagement	Very little	Social acceptance of intervention to prevent drunk driving
Prevention education	Very little	Anti–drunk-driving education in the K–12 curriculum