New York Times editorial in support of drunk driving (1984)
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
For starters, the number of motor vehicles per person in Europe at the time was much lower, so the roads were a lot less crowded and I would imagine most people who were three sheets to the wind wobbled their way home on a bicycle.
There are just too many people on the roads now to allow the kinds of lax road rules we used to have, and if anything the attitude towards alcohol and binge drinking has made drunk driving far more dangerous for other road users simply due to congestion.