There are those who like to imbibe an occasional glass of beer, wine or another alcoholic drink. Sometimes these people choose to get behind the wheel of a car and drive. It's no secret that drunk driving or driving under the influence is illegal in every state, although the penalties might vary from state to state.

If you're one of those people, you should consider a designated driver. This driver could be a friend who's chosen to stay sober to a professional taxi, limo or luxury sedan service.

Much of the time, a designated driver is an individual who is chosen or decides that he or she will remain sober to drive others home.

Various college and high school organizations offer to give free rides home on weekend nights to fellow students. Doctors for Designated Driving is the voice of the medical community in promoting designated driving. Although Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) may have been originally opposed the concept because it enables some people to continue drinking, the organization now supports designated driving.

The adoption of the designated driver program was an undertaking of Jay Winsten's Harvard Center for Health Communication. They studied the activity from Scandinavia, when one person in a group refrained from drinking in order to drive. They imported this concept into US culture through careful coordination with the media.

"The Harvard Alcohol Project represented a genuine breakthrough for public health. It marked the first time that a health institution joined forces with the communications industry on a project of this magnitude. All major Hollywood studios participated along with the ABC, CBS, and NBC television networks. Channels, a respected trade journal, called the extent of this industry involvement "unparalleled," and The New York Times lauded the initiative in an editorial."

According to media reports, the Project received over $100 million annually in network air time, utilizing under $300,000 in annual grants.

The term "designated driver" became a household phrase in the U.S. and now appears in the Random House Webster's College Dictionary. Public polls have documented the rapid, wide acceptance and strong popularity of the designated driver concept.

According to one poll, the proportion of Americans serving as a designated driver reached 37% in 1991. Among U.S. citizens under the age of 30, 52% had actually been a designated driver. Among frequent drinkers, 54% had been driven home by a designated driver. Another study reported that nearly 9 out of 10 interviewees in the country were familiar with the designated driver concept and they gave it a rating of 81 on a 100-point scale. Currently, the designated driver program rates higher than all other programs or industries rated.