Drunk driving laws existed prior to the invention of the automobile.
the verdict
SUPPORTED
the evidence backs this
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
2 sources for · 0 against
AS REPORTEDno primary record reached; this is what the reporting says
Historical sources and legislative records show that laws penalizing intoxication while in charge of horse-drawn carriages or vehicles existed prior to the invention and widespread use of the automobile.
# Were there any drunk driving laws before the automobile?
Tags: law, transportation, alcohol
- Score: 35
- Views: 5116
- Answers: 2
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: OmamArmy (453 rep)
- Asked: 2017-08-04
- Edited: 2017-08-04
- Site: history
## Question
I was wondering if before the automobile some places it was illegal to drive a carriage drunk? The first law in the USA against drunk driving was 1910 in Massachusetts. But I don't know if there are instances where they forbade it for people to steer the carriage while drunk.
I would like to know if there was anything before the 1900s.
## Answers
### Answer by sempaiscuba (score: 48 [ACCEPTED])
In the UK, the 1872 Licencing Act made it an offence to be:
... drunk while in charge on any highway or other public place of any
carriage, horse, cattle, or steam engine, or who is drunk when in
possession of any loaded firearms, ...
I understand that parts of that Act remain in force.
### Answer by Steve Melnikoff (score: 24)
"Causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving" (whether drunk or not) was made illegal by the Offences against the Person Act 1861. It is interpreted as applying to:
drivers of horse-drawn carriages a
# Back-dating "drunk driver"
Tags: etymology, dates
- Score: 4
- Views: 903
- Answers: 5
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: etymonline (49 rep)
- Asked: 2018-12-11
- Site: english
## Question
I've been impressed by the quality of research done on this forum. I have "drunk driver" meaning one who drives an automobile while intoxicated from 1948. I'm pretty sure it's older than that. Can anyone find an earliest attested date of that phrase in that sense, with evidence showing it in a reproduction (i.e. digital scan, not transcription) of a dated publication? And would there be an objection if I drop such queries here from time to time?
## Answers
### Answer by Goldbern (score: 9)
I have this dated 1787, culled from the online Felix Farley's Bristol Journal (Bristol, England), Saturday, November 3, 1787; Issue 2036. 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers [accessed 2018-12-11].
### Answer by Sven Yargs (score: 7)
The crime (or misdemeanor) of drunk driving—and use of the term drunk driver to characterize an offender guilty of it—evidently goes back in some municipalities to the days of the horsed carriage. From "Police Courts: Friday, July 22: Perth," in the [Perth, Western A
Everything we examined (2) — 1 independent source
This check searched the claim as stated. It did not run a separate search for evidence against it.