• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Monitech Ignition Interlock Systems

Monitech Ignition Interlock

North Carolina's leading Ignition Interlock provider

  • Interlock Basics
    • What is an Interlock
    • Interlock Cost
    • Special Offers
    • Interlock Videos
  • Locations
    • Service Centers
  • Partners
    • Refer A Client
    • Attorneys
    • Counselors
  • Customer Support
    • Contact Monitech Ignition Interlock
    • About
    • Refer A Friend
    • FAQs
    • Reviews
    • Mechanic Code Request
    • Blog
  • 800-521-4246

Throwback Thursday: 1950s Christmas Drunk Driving Message

December 22, 2016 by Editorial Staff
santa drunk driving psa

As it is now, so it has always been: the holidays are a dangerous time of year on the roads. People were always aware of it, though, as evidenced by this PSA by the National Foundation for Highway Safety, a Connecticut-based group that seems to have disappeared or been absorbed into another body. (Hat tip to Yesterday Television)

https://www.facebook.com/yesterdaytelevision/videos/684081771765877/

Santa looks pretty desperate, and he should have been. If this was the early 60s – hard to pin it down – road deaths would have been approaching a thousand a week, and more than half of those would have been alcohol-related. There was still public resistance to treating drunk driving as a serious crime. Ignition interlocks had not been invented, and it was still customary to evade drunk driving charges with the aid of a good lawyer. Often drivers were sent home with a warning to “sleep it off.”

PSAs have gotten more sophisticated since this message was made. So have laws and enforcement strategies. 28 states now mandate ignition interlocks for all drunk driving offenses – including first offenses – and more are signing on every year. Licenses are suspended automatically upon arrest in many states, and vehicles are sometimes impounded – measures that protect innocent lives.

So please remember: if our public safety PSAs don’t look anything like they did 50 years ago, our roads still do. There are people out there who have been out celebrating with friends, and who haven’t had the good sense to get a taxi home. As Santa said, they “fool themselves into thinking that drinking does not affect their driving.”

They’ll run red lights. They’ll swerve out of their lane into oncoming traffic. They’ll fail to stop for pedestrians.

Watch out for them. And if you see someone at a bar, restaurant or party about to join their ranks, stop them. It’s the right way to show the holiday spirit.

Happy Holidays from Monitech Ignition Interlock

Category: OffbeatTag: Holidays

About Editorial Staff

The editorial staff is a group of writers and contributors with wide-ranging areas of expertise. The editorial staff provides news and analysis of topics that are focused on community and driver safety.

Previous Post:These 2 Words Will Get You Home Safely in Arizona this Sunday
Next Post:Michael Floyd’s DUI Arrest is Not News. What Happens After Might Be.

Free First Month

Call a North Carolina expert now at 800-521-4246 to claim your Free First Month!

Call Today
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Call Toll-Free

800-521-4246

Interlock Basics

What Is An Interlock

Interlock Cost

Interlock Videos

Locations

Service Centers

Partners

Refer A Client

Attorneys

Counselors

Customer Support

About

Refer A Friend

FAQs

Reviews

Mechanic Code Request

Blog

News

Copyright © 2023 Monitech, LLC.

Customer Support · Contact · ISO Certification