Back in the days when Cheers and L.A. Law were the top shows on television, a new term—designated driver—started to become more prominent in American discourse. By 1991, the term had made it into Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. People started talking about having designated drivers just as casually as they talked about having dinner plans. Today, the two go hand in hand.
It has taken quite a while longer for the concept of driving under the influence to translate into the thinking of boaters on America’s waterways, where the U.S. Coast Guard continues to report that alcohol is the leading cause of fatal boating accidents. This year, two efforts to reduce boating under the influence—efforts that are in some
