Every holiday season, the roads fill with people traveling to celebrate with family members. Most Thanksgiving weekends and Christmas weeks see a lot of road traffic and countless family get-togethers around the country.
Unfortunately, there is also a noteworthy spike in drunk driving crashes around many major holidays, including the weekends immediately before or after holiday celebrations. Drunk driving risks are so much higher around the holidays that law enforcement agencies often increase their presence on the roads or even arrange for roadblocks to deter people from driving while drunk and catch those that get behind the wheel after overindulging.
Why are drunk driving collisions so common around the holiday season?
People self-medicate for the stress
Needing to spend three hours on the road with kids in the backseat is not pleasant, and neither is listening to your uncle shout about his personal political opinions over a dry turkey.
Many people struggle with family get-togethers around the holidays, they may overindulge on the days before those parties or during the celebrations themselves. When they try to drive later, they could end up causing a crash and ruining the holiday season for themselves and someone else.
Many traditions involve alcohol
From the tradition of letting the underage boys in the family have a beer while watching a football game on Thanksgiving to the midnight champagne toast on New Year’s eve, there are numerous holiday celebrations in the United States that involved alcohol. Many people assume that a few drinks while celebrating won’t be enough to affect their sobriety, but they are often wrong.
More traffic means more risk of a crash
Many drunk drivers are on the roads habitually and manage to get home without causing a wreck in part because they travel late at night when the roads are empty. Those same impaired drivers could potentially cause a crash on holidays because there are more people out on the roads.
If you intend to travel for the holidays or if your celebrations typically involve alcohol, then understanding the risks could protect you from making a mistake about when you drive. Realizing that police will be out in full force around the holidays could help you avoid drunk driving charges that will ruin the season for you and your family.
