For a night out on the town, having a designated driver seems like the responsible way to make sure you and your friends all get home safely. But how much do you trust your DD? A new study from The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs proved that many DDs aren’t totally sober by the end of the night.
The study consisted of six field tests in a Florida college town where the researchers evaluated people as they left bars at the end of the night. They studied over 1,000 subjects, and 65 percent of them were college students. The goal was to see how designated drivers acted in bar settings compared to their peers and their ultimate blood alcohol concentration.
On the bright side, 65 percent of the DDs studied didn’t have any alcohol in their system. But of the 165 people in the study that identified as DDs, about 40 percent had consumed alcohol. Granted, most of them had a BAC under the legal driving limit of 0.08 percent. But 18 percent of DDs had a BAC of over 0.05. Still, the study proves that DDs often are not sober, even though they know they have to drive.
According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), almost 10,000 people were killed and about 350,000 people were injured in drunk driving incidents. That’s not a position you want to put your friends in, so make the most responsible decision you can. In the end, the safest option is for a DD to completely avoid alcohol for the night.
Next time you and your friends need a ride home after a bar crawl, agree beforehand who will be DD and make sure she knows not to dirnk. And if your DD does end up having a few beers, call another sober friend or a cab to drive so you get home safely!