When did drink driving become socially unacceptable?

[Globetrote]

Like the title says - when in the UK did it become unacceptable from a moral and social viewpoint? I see online that the first law with alcohol legal limits was introduced in 1967, but the first public campaign was earlier in 1964 and aimed at housewives to pressurise their husbands not to drink drive.

The reason I ask is this - I was born in another country with similar timeframes for drink driving laws/campaign, but my father regularly drove drunk. I remember it clearly in the 1980s when I was a child being petrified, car often swerving across lanes and he nearly passed out at the wheel, but he never got caught until about 20 years ago when he lost his license for 6 months (again, not in the UK/EU). He thought the it was hilarious to have to get the bus for 6 months, and had no shame.

I was talking to a friend and she said ‘oh everyone was drunk driving in the 80’s, you shouldn’t be bothered about it as it wasn’t just you.’

I knew what he was doing was wrong, I remember the public campaigns in my country, and I hear that they had similar here in England. Did people just not give a shit back then? When did attitudes start to change?

My father and I are NC now for many reasons, but it makes me angry how he played roulette with my life and that of others on the road and has no conscience about it - and then my friend just discounted my feelings about it like it was all nonsense and no big deal.

(parents were divorced and DM never knew until years later).

I’m in my sixties and it was unacceptable, certainly in my family, and with friends, to drink and drive from the 1960s. Well, they (normally the men) would be allowed 2 pints of lager, after which car keys would be confiscated. It was very looked down on. It was scandalous to get caught drink driving. If my father had tried it my mother would have gone ballistic.

There were loads of campaigns in the 80s.
I was a kid but remember some scary adverts and debates on the radio, lots wanted the rules to only apply to women and not men because men could hold their drink and could drive better.....

Car safety in general wasn't taken seriously before that. Seatbelts only became compulsory in the front in the early 80s, and not in the back until 89/90ish.

For anyone interested I just happened on this report from the DoT that documents the DoT’s campaign to cut drink driving deaths and public attitudes (actually, male attitudes for the most part) towards various aspects of drink driving since 1979.

Contrary to my, and several other posters’ thoughts, it seems young men were the leaders in drink driving until about the turn of the century, not older generations.

I found the chart on how KSI (Killed and Seriously Injured) numbers have fallen over the years is quite shocking (page 32 for the one covering the full term of the report).

It seems to me it's still perfectly acceptable to drive after having a glass of wine or a pint of beer. Not drunk, not over the limit, but still after drinking alcohol. I'm not orginally from the UK and initially it was a shock to me to see friends driving home after a glass of wine at dinner.

I grew up rurally in the 80s and 90s and my parents would often drive to social events and to pubs. They would never drive after any more than one drink and would take turns to be the designated driver.