Would You Stop Someone From Driving Drunk?

Dec. 26, 2006 — -- Imagine you're walking down the street on a beautiful afternoon. An older man enjoys a cup of coffee at an outdoor café, a young couple strolls down the sidewalk arm in arm, a child runs across the street with his parents in tow.

Suddenly you notice something that grabs your attention. A man who appears to be intoxicated stumbles toward a car and tries to get into the driver's seat. What would you do?

Would you intervene and try to stop the man from driving away? A "Primetime" experiment posed this very dilemma to unsuspecting pedestrians on a busy street in suburban New Jersey.

"Primetime" set up eight hidden cameras in and around a car parked on a bustling street. Then Jake, an actor hired by "Primetime," drunkenly ambled over to the car and attempted to get in. Every single time, someone intervened. Different people tried different tactics.

Some offered to buy Jake coffee. Some warned him of the danger of a DUI arrest. Others reminded him of innocent people who could get hurt in an accident.

One woman named Elaine told Jake a story from her life, highlighting the consequences of putting himself in danger. After noticing a child's seat in the back of Jake's car, Elaine said, "My son is 27 years old. His father was murdered when he was 9 years old, and you know what? Every day I wake up, it hurts that my child had to grow up without a father. You don't want that for your little girl."

Elaine was relieved when she learned it was only an experiment, but she told "Primetime's" John Quinones, "It's just a human thing to do. I would do it for anybody."

"Primetime's" producers wanted to know if people would always be so quick to jump in. What if the drunk wasn't dressed as well? What if the actor was a woman? And what if the drunk was with two young children?