Keeping Everyone Safe This Holiday Season: Don’t Drink & Drive

It’s the most wonderful time of the year and a time of many holiday gatherings with friends, family, and other loved ones. Office parties, gift and cookie exchanges, favorite things parties, Secret Santa get-togethers, and so on and so forth. Most of these gatherings come with holiday food (cookies, if you’re lucky) and drink. Because December is National Impaired Driving Prevention Month, there is no better time than now to commit not to drink and drive this holiday season, and to take the steps you can to prevent others from driving drunk and putting our community at risk.  

Drunk Driving Statistics Show a Substantial Increase in Drunk Driving Incidents During the Holiday Season  

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics show that there is a notable uptick in drunk driving car accidents every year in the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.  The NHTSA’s Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Campaign reports that from 2017-2021, a staggering 4,561 people were killed in the month of December in drunk driving crashes.   

Additionally, for the last few years, Ohio has averaged just under 100 traffic fatalities per month, per the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). So far through just over 11 months of 2024, there have been 1,083 fatalities on Ohio roadways and more than 13,600 OVI arrests. Unfortunately, those numbers are expected to climb this month as well.   

How Can You Help Lower Drunk Driving Accidents in Our Community?   

We wrote on this issue last December and included a number of tips that are still applicable for aiding in a safe holiday season. These tips include: 

• Be a Responsible Host: If your family, company, or group is hosting a holiday gathering, consider providing alternative transportation or ride-share options for guests and encourage responsible drinking. Make sure those serving alcohol at your event know that they are empowered to cut anyone off from the service of alcohol, and that no one should be overserved.     

• Have a Transportation Plan: If you plan to consume alcohol at all at any gathering outside of your home, designate a sober driver or arrange for alternative transportation in advance to avoid any decision to drive at all.       

• Be Alert and Drive Defensively: Even if you are not consuming alcohol this holiday season, others on the roadways likely are.  It’s always a good idea to be alert and drive defensively, but that is especially true during the holiday season when intoxicated drivers plus snowy or icy weather can cause crashes leading to catastrophic injuries or death.    

• If You Are a Restaurant, Bar, or Other Establishment That Serves Alcohol: Make sure that your bar personnel – as well as any servers serving alcohol – are well trained in the signs of intoxication, are empowered to cut anyone off from the service of alcohol, and understand that no one (no matter who they are) should be overserved. In addition to creating safety issues for our community, overserving could result in dram shop liability for your establishment. 

At Plakas Mannos, we know that thinking ahead, planning, and taking proactive safety measures are often the key to creating a safer community. By raising awareness about the prevalence of intoxicated drunk driving during this holiday season – and especially this month – our DUI lawyers hope to contribute to a safer holiday season.   

We Are the Drunk Driving Defense Lawyers You Never Want to Need    

Unfortunately, many of our cases involve drunk driving or impaired driving, including freeway crashes, pedestrian crashes, motorcycle crashes, and other catastrophic crashes and personal injuries and wrongful death. If you or a loved one are injured by drunk drivers or impaired or intoxicated drivers, our hearts go out to you, and we will do our best to get you answers and accountability if you reach out to Plakas Mannos today. Our wrongful death lawyers have successfully held bars and restaurants responsible for the service of alcohol to minors and those who were already noticeably intoxicated when served. We are the lawyers you never want to need, but if you do need us, we are here for you.

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