Holidays and drinking seem to go hand-in-hand. The most popular portrayal of the holidays includes at least one drunk scene with a depressed uncle or lonely single person. Unfortunately, this is one the rare situations in which Hollywood gets reality right. The holidays do lead to increase in drinking which does increase the likelihood that people will operate vehicles while under the influence. In fact, data collected by Scram Systems, an anti-drunk driving resources, found that alcohol consumption during Thanksgiving jumps by 35 percent. Furthermore, it rises by 41 percent on Christmas, 40 percent throughout the entire holiday season and by a whopping 58 percent on New Years.
Combine those increased drinking levels with an estimated 91 million trips between December 23 and Jan 2. Furthermore, 42 million Americans travel during Thanksgiving. Consider that on those road trips, one in eight drivers admitted to driving after consuming sufficient alcohol to be at or near the 0.08 BAC limit.
Furthermore, according to market data collected by Scram Systems, DUI offender drunk driving violations jump 31 percent over Thanksgiving, 48 percent on Christmas and an impressive 106 percent on New Years.
All of the increased drinking and driving leads to two to three times more people dying in alcohol-related crashes, which amounts to 1,200 people and a further 25,000 injuries in car collisions.
Are you facing an OWI charge? If so, then you may want to contact a criminal defense attorney. No, the courts and police aren’t more lenient if you are arrested around the holidays. If the figures above tell you anything, they should tell you that holidays are a dangerous time for drivers and the police are cracking down to prevents fatalities. As such, you may want the assistance of a defense attorney to ensure that you receive fair treatment and all of your rights are respected.
