History Main / DrunkDriver

What happens when the BottleFairy, LadyDrunk, LifeOfTheParty, [[LampshadeWearing Lampshade Wearer]], DrunkenMaster, DoctorJekyllAndMisterJackDaniels, et al. get behind the wheel of their car. Most likely they're gonna hit someone and have a car accident. If it's a near miss, it's a ScareEmStraight. Also happens after a non-boozehound character has been DrowningMySorrows.

Sub-trope of AlcoholInducedIdiocy. Also, compare DrivesLikeCrazy, except this one tends not to be PlayedForLaughs. [[hottip:*:''You'' try treating this lightly - the MoralGuardians will be seeking your head on a pike!!!!!]]

Compare DrivesLikeCrazy, except this one tends not to be PlayedForLaughs. [[hottip:*:''You'' try treating this lightly - the MoralGuardians will be seeking your head on a pike!!!!!]]

* Cops in ''TheWire'' are regularly shown driving to an out-of-the-way spot to chat and get plastered on beer, then driving home. Major Rawls at one point attempts to get revenge on Detective [=McNulty=] by pressuring Detective Santangelo to catch him drink driving: Santangelo is dismayed; it is implicit that freedom to drink drive is an unwritten sacred right for Baltimore police.

* ''FunkyWinkerbean'': One of the major changes in the strip's history led to Wally Winkerbean's decision to join the Army. In a 1996 storyline, Wally and teen-aged girlfriend Becky Blackburn go to a party, get very drunk and Wally drives her home; along the way, the two get into a romantic mood and begin to French kiss. Just as the steamy kiss is causing them to have a near-orgasm, Wally forgets that he is driving and the car completely misses a curve. The car turns over in a ditch, and while Wally is only slightly injured, Becky is pinned underneath the car and nearly dies. Although Becky's life is ultimately saved, her arm is too severely broken to be saved and it is amputated. In the aftermath, Wally (unable to accept the consequences of his actions) decides to join the Army -- which will take him to Afghanistan, lead a mission to ban land mines and ultimately be taken prisoner, held for 10 years -- while Becky remains a one-armed woman to this day. Amazingly, she forgave Wally and was married to him for several years ... until the day an Army officer informed her that Wally was dead after the helicopter he was riding in was shot down (he had actually survived the crash but was taken prisoner); she later remarried to John Howard, the comic book store owner.

* ''GrowingPains'': The episode "Second Chance," where Carol's goofy boyfriend Sandy (Matt [=LeBlanc=] in an early appearance) is once again the butt of Mike and Ben's silly jokes when he's late for his date ... until they learn (from a phone call) the reason why: He was in a major car accident the previous evening. Viewers later learn that Sandy and Carol had been drinking heavily the night before, and after leaving Carol off, had crashed his car. Sandy appears to be OK, and Carol is thankful that he was just slightly hurt ... but only later do viewers learn the truth: When they get home, Mike has some somber news: Sandy just died from internal bleeding due to his injuries. Carol refuses to believe this at first, but it soon becomes apparent Mike's "cruel joke" (to her) was anything but.

* ''GrowingPains'': The episode "Second Chance," where Carol's goofy boyfriend Sandy (Matt [=LeBlanc=] in an early appearance) is once again the butt of Mike and Ben's silly jokes when he's late for his date ... until they learn (from a phone call) the reason why: He was in a major car accident the previous evening. Viewers later learn that Sandy and Carol had been drinking heavily the night before, and after leaving Carol off, had crashed his car. Sandy appears to be OK, and Carol is thankful that he was just slightly hurt ... but only later do viewers learn the truth: Sandy had suffered from internal bleeding, and on her way home from the hospital, Mike has some somber news: Sandy just died from his injuries. Carol refuses to believe this at first, but it soon becomes apparent Mike's "cruel joke" (to her) was anything but.

* ''GrowingPains'': The episode "Second Chance," where Carol's goofy boyfriend Sandy (Matt {{=LeBlanc=}} in an early appearance) is once again the butt of Mike and Ben's silly jokes when he's late for his date ... until they learn (from a phone call) the reason why: He was in a major car accident the previous evening. Viewers later learn that Sandy and Carol had been drinking heavily the night before, and after leaving Carol off, had crashed his car. Sandy appears to be OK, and Carol is thankful that he was just slightly hurt ... but only later do viewers learn the truth: Sandy had suffered from internal bleeding, and on her way home from the hospital, Mike has some somber news: Sandy just died from his injuries. Carol refuses to believe this at first, but it soon becomes apparent Mike's "cruel joke" (to her) was anything but.

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* Drunk driving and killing a kid is what got Tobias Beecher sent to Prison in ''Oz''.Given what happens to Him there,It may be the most horrifying ''Don't Drink and Drive'' Ad ever.

* Played for laughs (sort of) in the ''YesMinister'' [[ChristmasEpisode Christmas special]] "Party Games." The Home Office declares a "don't drink and drive at Christmas" campaign, whose advice a besotted Jim Hacker elects to ignore (despite his wife being sober and willing to drive), leading to a police stop on account of his extremely slow driving. This turns out to be small potatoes, however, after [[spoiler:it turns out that [[HypocriticalHumour the Home Secretary himself]] drove drunk, overturning a lorry carrying nuclear waste on the M25 (if memory serves); Sir Humphrey jokes that since the press are saying he was "drunk as a Lord," the Government will almost certainly [[KickedUpstairs make him one]].]]

* Played for laughs (sort of) in the ''YesMinister'' [[ChristmasEpisode Christmas special]] "Party Games." The Home Office declares a "don't drink and drive at Christmas" campaign, whose advice a besotted Jim Hacker elects to ignore (despite his wife being sober and willing to drive), leading to a police stop on account of his extremely slow driving. This turns out to be small potatoes, however, after [[spoiler:it turns out that the Home Secretary himself drove drunk, overturning a lorry carrying nuclear waste on the M25 (if memory serves); Sir Humphrey jokes that since the press are saying he was "drunk as a Lord," the Government will almost certainly [[KickedUpstairs make him one]].]]

* Drunk driving and killing a kid is what got Tobias Beecher sent to Prison in ''Oz''.Given what happens to Him there,It may be the most horrifying ''Don't Drink and Drive'' Ad ever

Compare DrivesLikeCrazy.

* Happens to Wheels in the ''DegrassiHigh: School's Out'' movie.

* Wheels from ''DegrassiHigh'' drove drunk in the SeriesFinale, with the resulting crash killing an infant. He spent the interval between that series and ''DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' in prison for it.