>> This is a city that practically endorses party behavior, and has absolutely miserable public transportation options and a sprawling suburb area

I used to live in Athens, GA, and we had the same problem: nightlife drove much of the local economy, but public transportation was nearly non-existent. The number of clearly intoxicated people getting into cars was astounding to me when I first moved, having previously lived in a city with good public transportation.

The correlation between drunk driving and the availability of public transportation seems pretty clear to me.