Most people can’t seem to have a party as adults without alcohol. Some people almost pressure their guests and loved ones into overindulging during the festivities by serving up everything from seasonal drinks to boozy desserts during holiday gatherings.
As indulgent as these culinary offerings may be, they are also one of the contributing risk factors for holiday injuries and deaths. Every year, the winter holiday season brings with it a marked increase in drunk driving crashes.
An analysis of crash data shows that both Christmas and Thanksgiving put people at risk for drunk driving crashes.
Most celebrants don’t want to drink it off at their family’s homes
Family can be a source of joy, but it is also a source of trauma and stress for many. People may drink to stave off their irritation with their snippy siblings or to get through the difficulty of spending another holiday with an unpleasant parent. That means that despite maybe having a few too many drinks, many celebrants won’t want to stay at their host’s house when the end of the party finally arrives.
Additionally, they may have children or spouses that they need to take home or pets waiting in crates that need to get out to go to the bathroom. All of that can mean that people knowingly get behind the wheel when they really shouldn’t around the holidays. Other people may not even realize they’ve had too much, especially if there was alcohol in the food.
When you combine people drinking and then traveling home with those drinking at restaurants and bars, it’s easy to see why Thanksgiving and Christmas account for about 36% of all annual holiday drunk-driving crashes.
Every year, the holidays bring an increase in drunk driving deaths
The holidays are supposed to be a time of joyful celebration, but they become the anniversary of a tragedy for dozens of families every year when drunk drivers claim innocent lives on the American roadways.
Whether you lost a loved one in a drunk-driving crash or suffered serious injuries, you could have a legal right to bring a claim against the impaired driver, regardless of whether or not the state has prosecuted them for their involvement in the crash.
