Skipping dinner with your in-laws is unimaginable during the holiday season. With Christmas sneaking nearby, many New Yorkers are oiling their motor engines for the gallivant trips ahead. According to the NSC, car traveling, which many opt for, has the highest fatality rate based on fatalities per passenger mile.
Scroll down to find out how different holiday driving statistics affect drivers and passengers.
Holiday Drunk Driving Statistics
As incredible and highly anticipated as the holidays are, drunk driving can obstruct the season’s exuberance. Across the United States, fatal injuries are more than 10000 yearly, which means alcohol-related crashes spike up during the holidays.
Below is a list extracted from Fatality and Injury Reporting System about holiday drunk driving statistics.
1. Larger and More Populous States Have More Fatalities
Distracted driving is deadly since 40% of highway deaths are alcohol-related. Montana led with the highest death toll, followed by South Carolina, then New Mexico.
2. Memorial Day is the deadliest Holiday
During this day, most driving fatalities and crashes involving alcohol take place. In 2019 158 Americans lost their lives in alcohol-related crashes on Memorial Day.
3. Independence Day, the deadliest
Two hundred thirty-three expected fatalities are said to be the most deadly holiday period.
4. 14.3% rise in death rates in 2022
According to NSE, alcohol-impaired driving fatalities were 10196 in 2019, which rose to 11654 in 2022, a 14.3% increase becoming the highest number since 2009.
5. Labor Day for Colorado was devastating
According to collision investigation data gathered by patrols from Colorado State, between 2019 and 2022, mortality in automobile wrecks and hazardous holiday injuries were devastating.
6. Increase of drunk driving to 50% during holidays
According to mothers against drunk driving (MADD), drunk driving deaths are about a third of all traffic fatalities and increase to 50% during the holiday season.
7. Children are not spared
According to the NHTSA reports, two hundred thirty children were killed in drunk driving crashes this year.
8. Drunk driving is costly
According to NHTSA, an annual $44 billion is the approximate cash for holiday drunk driving damages.
9. 1980s was much better
During the 1980s, drunk driving accidents were minimal. However, on New Year’s Eve of 2022 one- half of those in 1980 accidents occurred.
10. Bad nights
Based on NHTSA data, 68% of alcohol-related fatalities happen at night, and only 28% occur during the day.
11. Fatal deaths
According to NHTSA, 26.8% of drivers during the various holidays of 2022 have been killed or seriously injured in drunk driving crashes.
Holiday DUI Driving Statistics
Anybody over the legal age can enjoy a drink now and then; however, this prevalence of motives to commemorate too often comes when people start getting behind the wheel and shouldn’t.
Many may not realize how severe DUI penalties are. Therefore, here is an outlook on some DUI statistics
12. 2019 Christmas was fatal compared to 2022’s holidays
According to the holiday DUI statistics, 140 fatal crashes occurred on Christmas of 2019.
13. December drunk drivers
Fatal crashes in December involved 29% of drunk drivers.
14. Out of 222 licensed drivers, one is arrested for drunk driving
Being pulled over while driving under the influence is very fortunate because, having more than 230 million licensed drivers in the US, you can imagine the chaos if only a quarter of that number were driving drunk. 1 in 222 licensed drivers will get arrested for drunk driving in their lifetime.
15. Binge drinking habits
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), a man should not have more than5 drinks in two hours or less, and a woman should not have more than four drinks during that time.
16. There were more arrests on January 1st
During the early hours of January 1st of 2022, more drunk drivers get arrested than on the 4th of July.
17. False judgment
Most New Year’s revelers who think they are not intoxicated get behind the wheel drunk.
18. Approximately 25% of adults drink more during the holidays
According to the NIAAA survey, a person can have three or more drinks as long as the person doesn’t drive and can.
19. 91 million Americans travel between December 23rd and January 1st
Scary as it sounds, it is even more challenging to consider how many of them might be under the influence at some point during their trip.
20. Drivers under the influence are aged between21 to 34
Most drunk drivers are barely 35 years old and most likely to get injured in December.
21. Highways are the most dangerous
25% of the time, DUI accidents happen on highways
22. Other drug content found in the bloodstream
According to the nonprofit center for auto safety, 10.8% of 7279 drivers test positive for stimulants.
23. Increase in arrests in 2022
Local arrests for either driving while impaired or driving under the influence increased by 3.7% between 2021 and 2022.
Holiday Driving Injury Statistics
24. 2022 estimation on New Year’s holiday (2022)
According to the National Safety Council (NSC), over 380 people will lose their lives on the highways, and more than 500 will get from minimal to fatal injuries.
25. Over 40,000 injuries in 2022
According to NSC data, the number of people who suffered severe injuries was more than 40,000 cases.
26. Medically consulted injury-to-death ratio is 114:1
According to the NSC, 42,300 is the estimate of non-fatal medically consulted injuries that will result from crashes during holidays.
27. More than 50% of injured drivers are drunk
A study published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 54% of injured drivers had alcohol in their systems.
28. Pedestrians and cyclists also have alcohol in their systems
Samples of blood were taken from over 7000 road users. Surprisingly half or more were injured pedestrians and the rest were injured cyclists with drugs in their bloodstreams.
29. THC content also found in people’s systems
Of all the 7279 patients tested, 25.1% tested positive for THC, which was surprisingly higher than those who tested positive for alcohol. 23.1% was the alcohol results.
30. Increase in injuries between 2021 and 2022
There was an increase of 17% in drug-related traffic injuries between 2021 and 2022.
Final Words
Drunk driving has no excuse since all those alcohol-related crashes are 100% preventable. There are plenty of options to consider before getting behind the wheel. Therefore consider the above holiday driving statistics before you act on influence.