Drunk Driver: Difference between revisions

What happens when the [[Hard-Drinking Party Girl]], [[Lady Drunk]], [[Life of the Party]], [[Lampshade-Wearing|Lampshade Wearer]], [[Drunken Master]], [[In Vino Veritas|personality-shifting drunk]], et al. get behind the wheel of their car.

 

 

In television, tends to be a shortcut for declaring a character [[The Alcoholic]], or that [[The Alcoholic]] is heading [[Off the Wagon]]. Also happens frequently after a [[Wild Teen Party]] as [[An Aesop]].

* In ''[[Macross]]: Do You Remember Love?'' Roy Fokker takes his Valkyrie out to rescue Hikaru after some serious drinking. {{spoiler|He dies and Misa and Hikaru get thrown into hyperspace.}}

** Roy sorties drunk again in ''[[Super Robot Wars]] Alpha Gaiden.''

 

== [[Film]] ==

* [[Mad Magazine]] editors and writers had a special [[Berserk Button]] about this dating back to the early sixties.

* ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' features a character killed in an accident with a drunk driver. This causes problems for those still alive because the character in question was the subject of an investigation and the previous government was found of [[Make It Look Like an Accident]]-style murders to remove political opponents. So even though the accident was legitimate, no one would ever believe it.

 

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Growing Pains]]'': The episode "Second Chance," where Carol's goofy boyfriend Sandy (Matthew Perry 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.

* ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'': In at least one episode, Cletus' bumbling is immediately turned serious when he stops chronic drunk Hobie (unknown last name) in at least one episode. The no-nonsense attitude Cletus takes toward drunk driving was likely to send a stern message about one of the consequences of drunk driving — that you might get arrested.

* ''[[My Two Dads]]'': Teased in one 1989 episode, where Nicole and her friends come home drunk. When Michael and Joey learn that the driver of Nicole's car was drunk and Nicole scoffs at the notion that she was in jeopardy of being involved in a serious accident, they decide to teach her a lesson by getting drunk and threaten to go out for a drive. They stop short when Nicole realizes the consequences of her actions.

* ''[[Dallas]]'': A recurring storyline was Sue Ellen's alcoholism, and this plays into her decision to drive drunk in a 1983 episode; this will lead to her causing a crash that seriously injures brother-in-law (and Ray Krebbs' nephew) Mickey Trotter.

* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Homer and his buddies go drinking, and drive into the school, thus destroying part of it, which leads to a curfew being put on the children and teens of Springfield (because the police assume it was the work of young vandals).

* In ''[[Rick and Morty]]'', it's debatable whether or not Rick is ''ever'' sober. However, there have been times when he drives his car/spaceship while drunker than usual, often with an open container to boot. Of course, the crimes he's wanted for on several worlds include murder and genocide, so he likely isn't worried about a D.U.I. charge.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Motor Vehicle Tropes]]