Contemporary research often relates driving under the influence
(DUI) to alcohol addiction and young drunk drivers, in particular,
to social deviance. Based on qualitative interviews with 25
convicted drunk drivers, this article studies the relationship
between drinking and DUI. The article focuses on three different
categories of drunk drivers. In the first, drunk drivers consider
addiction to be the main cause of DUI. In the second, they position
themselves within subcultural groups often engaged in using illicit
drugs, alcohol, and DUI. Both of these categories agree with
conceptions of DUI as resulting from alcoholism or social deviance.
However, the interviews also revealed a third type of relationship
between drinking and DUI. Interviewees in this third category
rejected the other two relationships by dissociating themselves from
alcoholism and social deviance. Instead, they described themselves
and their relationship between drinking and DUI as normal. The
article thus concludes that while some drunk drivers view themselves
in line with popular conceptions of DUI, others distance themselves
from these associations so as to present themselves as normal.