The Thanksgiving holiday is one of the single busiest road travel holidays of the year, and likewise it’s also one that’s celebrated with a lot of various types of alcohol to go along with a traditionally large dinner with family and friends. When you combine both of these factors together, you can see how high of a risk there is for drunk driving.
In fact, many people don’t realize it but the Thanksgiving holiday is actually one of the single largest drunk driving holidays of the year, behind only the Fourth of July, New Year’s Eve, Labor Day, and Memorial Day. Mothers Against Drunk Driving reports that Thanksgiving actually exceeds Christmas in terms of the number of people each year who die as a result of drunk drivers.
With so many drunk drivers out on the roads, it should come as little surprise that law enforcement step up their efforts and crack down heavily on drunk drivers over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Expect to see extra sobriety checkpoints, increased patrols on highways and local streets, and heavy law enforcement presence around popular bars and restaurants that serve alcohol.
Blackout Wednesday
It may surprise you, but one of the single largest drunk driving days of the year occurs over Thanksgiving weekend in some cities. Known as “blackout Wednesday,” the day before Thanksgiving is one of the busiest nights of the year for bars for a number of reasons. First, it’s a big gathering night. In many cases, family members who have traveled into town for the Thanksgiving holiday will want to go out and catch up with each other over a brew or two. Second, college students have usually returned home for the holiday and use the opportunity to go catch up with old friends they may not have seen for some time.
As a result, many people finish their drinks and get behind the wheel to head where they’re going before they’ve fully sobered-up. Generally the late-night hours before Thanksgiving Day are some of the riskiest on the road and one where you’re extremely likely to find yourself arrested for DUI if you’re found by an officer.
Thanksgiving Day
We’ve briefly touched on this before, but Thanksgiving itself is no stranger to alcohol. Many people choose to enjoy their turkey with wine, beer with the annual football games, and plenty of other drinking traditions. While the holiday isn’t one that’s known for being particularly rowdy or drunken, the truth is that plenty of people choose to drive drunk on this day. Likewise, with the advent of Black Friday sales starting earlier and earlier each year, more and more people are choosing to drive at earlier hours, before they’ve fully sobered-up.
Black Friday
Black Friday is also a popular drinking day for many of the same reasons as Blackout Wednesday. When people are done with shopping and the stress of being out and about all day, many choose to relax with a cool, refreshing drink in their hands. Because of a lack of work or school responsibilities the following day, and often times with family and friends still in town, it’s not uncommon for the night to also contain a lot of drinking at local bars and restaurants.
Plan Ahead
If you know your activities over Thanksgiving weekend are going to include drinking, the best thing you can do for both yourself, your family, and those around you is to plan ahead and make sure you have a ride home afterward. Take a taxi where you’re going, go with a designated driver, or use public transportation to get where you need to go. Remember: getting behind the wheel while intoxicated is not only against the law, but dangerous as well.
If you’ve been arrested and charged with driving under the influence over this Thanksgiving holiday, you need a Birmingham DUI attorney on your side. Call Tidwell Law Group, LLC at (205) 536-7770 today to request a case evaluation and learn more about your rights.
