National Drunk/ Drugged Driving Awareness Month

1. Increased Fatalities: Traffic-related deaths involving alcohol-impaired drivers increase by 41% during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], 2020).

 2. Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving weekend sees over 400 fatalities, with nearly half involving alcohol-impaired drivers (NHTSA, 2020). 

3. December as a Whole: About 25% of traffic fatalities in December are caused by drunk driving (NHTSA, 2021). 

4. New Year’s Eve/Day: On New Year’s Eve, 58% of highway deaths involve alcohol (NHTSA, 2021). 5. Weekend Effect: When holidays fall on weekends (e.g., New Year’s Eve on a Saturday), fatal crashes involving alcohol spike (NHTSA, 2020). 

Drugged Driving:

1. Drug Use Increases: Holidays see a rise in drugged driving as recreational drug use increases during celebrations (National Institute on Drug Abuse [NIDA], 2021). 

2. Combined Impairment: Alcohol and drug use combined are more common during holiday events, leading to heightened impairment (NHTSA, 2020). 

Holiday Travel Risks: 

1. Peak Days: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s are some of the busiest and most dangerous travel days, with significant rises in crashes and fatalities (AAA, 2020; NHTSA, 2021). 

2. Nighttime Driving: 70% of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities occur at night, peaking between midnight and 3 a.m. on holiday weekends (NHTSA, 2020). 

References List: 

• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (2020). Holiday drunk driving statistics. https://www.nhtsa.gov 

• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (2021). December impaired driving statistics. https://www.nhtsa.gov 

• National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2021). Drugged driving report. https://nida.nih.gov 

• American Automobile Association. (2020). Holiday travel risks. https://www.aaa.com