When Did Drunk Driving Become A Crime?

In the early 1900s, the combination of a heavy drinking culture and the growing prevalence of automobiles created a dangerous new mix on America’s roads.

In the first quarter of the 20th century, automobiles were evolving from luxury playthings to an essential mode of transport for the masses. The launch of the Ford Model T in October 1908—the first car to be mass-produced—gave ordinary Americans access to an affordable vehicle, says David Jolly, author of DUI/DWI: The History of Driving Under the Influence. 

As car ownership spread by the millions, alcohol consumption remained high. Between 1900 and 1915, the average adult drank roughly 13 standard drinks per week, compared with about 2.8 in 2025. 

Yet few officials understood the peril. Motor vehicles were suddenly whizzing past horses, streetcars and pedestrians, but lawmakers and police had little experience confronting intoxicated drivers. In Britain, London taxi driver George Smith became the first person arrested for drunk driving on September 10, 1897, after crashing into a building. He was fined 20 shillings.

In 1906, New Jersey became the first U.S. state to outlaw drunk driving, says doctor and historian Barron Lerner, author of One for the Road: Drunk Driving Since 1900. Its legislation decreed that “No intoxicated person shall drive a motor vehicle.” By 1910, both Massachusetts and New York had followed suit, Lerner says. And by the mid-1930s, most states had adopted laws—many in response to the post-Prohibition era drinking and driving culture, writes Charles Johnson, author of the research brief “Drunk Driving as a Criminal Offense.”

Still, there was little research and awareness to help the public understand the danger. Instead of public education campaigns and rigorous legal enforcement, “it was really just frowned upon,” says Jolly. Early cars lacked any basic safety features like seat belts or air bags, compounding the risk.

Even after states criminalized drunk driving, police lacked the scientific tools to determine a driver’s level of impairment. Officers relied on observational tests—asking drivers to balance on one foot, walk a straight line and recite a memorized passage. “There was no real science behind it,” Lerner says.

That began to change in 1936, when Dr. Rolla Harger, a biochemist and toxicologist at Indiana University, invented the Drunkometer. The balloon-like device changed color based on alcohol concentration in a person’s breath, explains Jolly. But because it didn’t provide a precise reading, Lerner says, it was “hard to successfully prosecute people, unless they were really plastered.” 

A breakthrough came in 1953, when Harger’s colleague Robert Borkenstein developed the easier-to-use and much more accurate Breathalyzer. The device measures the alcohol vapor in a person’s breath and calculated a numerical blood alcohol concentration (BAC). 

“It captured [the BAC] quickly and accurately,” Jolly says. “By using some science to measure breath-testing, the country became more open to putting stronger laws in place. The Breathalyzer is a more primitive version of what is used today.”

Scientific advances didn’t immediately transform public attitudes. “Drunk driving was still a tolerated behavior,” Jolly admits. “People would say, ‘Have one more for the road’ and ‘Just be safe when you drive home.’”

In 1968, William Haddon Jr., the first head of the National Highway Safety Bureau (NTSB), co-published the first major federal report on drunk driving. It estimated that roughly 25,000 Americans were being killed annually in alcohol-related crashes. 

Still, enforcement momentum lagged until the early 1980s. After a 13-year-old California girl named Cari Lightner was killed by a three-time drunk-driving offender (who was out on bail from a hit-and-run arrest two days earlier), her mother, Candy Lightner, founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). The group’s storytelling power humanized the crisis and reshaped public opinion. 

The pressure helped drive major policy changes. In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, raising the national drinking age to 21. In 2000, President Bill Clinton signed legislation establishing 0.08 percent as the national minimum BAC limit.

In the wake of these changes, annual drunk-driving deaths began to decline. Between 2003 and 2023 alone, the number of people killed in alcohol-related crashes dropped nearly 30 percent, according to the NTSB. The numbers reflect a century of shifting laws, technologies and attitudes—an evolution that reshaped American roads and redefined the nation’s understanding of risk behind the wheel.