The Designated Driver Turns 21

Harvard School of Public Health professor Jay Winsten enlisted popular TV shows to reduce drunk-driving fatalities.

The "designated driver" has turned 21—and during that period, the number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities has fallen from about 25,000 a  year to about 13,000. Today’s Boston Globe reported this news in a brief interview with Jay Winsten, associate dean for public and community affairs at Harvard School of Public Health.

Winsten played a major role in introducing the Scandinavian practice to the United States as a positive solution to the problem of drinking and driving; a major breakthrough was getting popular TV shows to refer to designated drivers in their programming, as the Globe interview and “Drinking and Driving Get Prime Time,” an article from the Harvard Magazine archives, make clear.

Related topics
University News

You might also like

Three Harvard Unions Move Toward Strikes

Dining employees, academic workers unions join graduate students in threatening a walkout.

Graduate Student Union Schedules Strike

The work stoppage will begin October 27, unless a final bargaining session next week yields an agreement.

Harvard Stabilizes Finances With Strong Endowment Returns, Philanthropy

Small operating surplus is dwarfed by reduced federal research support and endowment tax liabilities.

Most popular

To Promote Healthy Habits in Patients, Start With the Doctors

Why Harvard Medical School is training physicians to think more like coaches

How Philosophy at Harvard Saved Itself

As humanities shrink across higher education, one department is flourishing. Is its success a fluke, or a roadmap?

Harvard Weathers a Year of Turmoil

The federal government has launched unprecedented actions against the University. Here’s a guide.

House - Email

Explore More From Current Issue

St. Peter's Basilica at sunset, illuminated by purple and orange sky reflections in the river.

Alumni

For advocacy and benevolence, three late alumni are reportedly in line for the Catholic Church’s highest honor.

Illuminated hanging sculptures resembling organic forms, casting warm light in a dim space.

Arts & Culture

Artists Enzo Camacho and Ami Lien turn a colonial symbol from Cambodia inside out.

Ancient Egyptian painted sarcophagus with detailed hieroglyphs and a woman's face.

Museums & Collections

A rare Egyptian mummy case is on display at the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East.