Nearing the turn of the 20th century, you would expect that there would be a lot of firsts. On today’s date in 1897, a first happened and was recorded in the Morning Post of London. George Smith, a London cabbie, was arrested for drunk driving. The newspaper records the details.
“Police constable Russel, 247C, stated that at a quarter to one that morning he saw Smith in Bond street in charge of a motor car – a four wheeled electric cab. Suddenly, the vehicle swerved from one side of the road to the other and ran across the footway into 165, New Bond-street, breaking the water pipe and the beading of the window…[he was taken to] Vine-street Police-station…Prisoner: How fast was I going? Constable: I should think about 8 miles an hour. Prisoner: At the time, I was going up an incline and could not have been going 6 miles an hour. The fastest these cars can travel is 8 miles an hour. [The divisional surgeon] Mr. De Rutzen: You are not charged with driving furiously but with being drunk. What about that? Prisoner: I admit having two or three glasses of beer. I am very sorry. It is the first time I have been charged with being drunk in charge of a cab.”1
Smith was fined 20 shillings. Scotland Yard had a record of him being arrested many times before for drunkenness, but this was his first – and the first – anyone had been charged with drunk driving.
According to the Law Offices of John Phebus, Glendale (Arizona) Criminal and Personal Injury Lawyer, there were over 1 million arrests for drunk drivers in 2023. The latest Census Bureau statistic of those killed by drunk drivers comes from 2020 and the number is horrific: 38,824 people died because of drunk drivers. Most fatalities occur between midnight to 6 a.m. In a 5-year study, Ohio has nearly one-third of all drunk driving fatalities.2
Long before drivers were climbing behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated, God warned about the dangers of alcohol. Proverbs 23:29-32 asks, “Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? (30) They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. (31) Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. (32) At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.” None of that sounds positive, does it? All that can come from drinking is heartache and trouble.
Proverbs 31:4-5 says, “It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: (5) Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.” While we are not kings, we are certainly royalty. We are the children of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Therefore, we need to view ourselves as those who need no external stimulation nor help anesthetizing our problems. We turn to the One who has all the answers and rely on His indwelling Holy Spirit to comfort us.
The child of God is told in Ephesians 5:18, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” We are to be excessively filled and under the control of the Spirit of Almighty God!
Drunkenness has been comically portrayed in theatre and television. Our favorite “drunk” was none other than Otis Campbell on the Andy Griffith show. But there’s nothing funny about it. It is sinful and it is extremely sad to see so many people under the corruptive bondage of booze.
As believers, why take part in something that has led many into serious, debilitating sin? Let’s put into practice Romans 13:13-14. “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. (14) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”
1https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2014/09/09/london-cabbie-george-smith-arrested-for-drunk-driving-in-1897/
2https://www.crimeandinjurylaw.com/blog/2023/06/drunk-driving-statistics/
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