Thanksgiving Drunk Driving: 910 Deaths in Five Years

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Thanksgiving Eve falls on November 25 this year. It’s one of the busiest nights for bars and house parties, with friends and family back in town, and some people call it Blackout Wednesday. If you or someone you love struggles with alcohol, or you’re looking into alcohol addiction help in Panama City, the days before Thanksgiving are a good time to plan around some dangerous activities and situations.

Drunk Driving Numbers

The NHTSA tracks drunk-driving crashes over the Thanksgiving holiday. From 2020 through 2024, 910 people died in drunk-driving crashes over Thanksgiving. That was 36 percent of all traffic-crash deaths in that period… about 182 deaths a year.

In 2024, 164 people died in drunk-driving crashes over the holiday. Drivers aged 21 to 34 had the highest involvement in fatal drunk-driving crashes, at 37 percent of all cases.

Buzzed Driving

NHTSA’s holiday campaign runs November 23 to 29 this year. Its message is “Buzzed Driving Is Drunk Driving.” It’s meant for people who have had a couple of drinks, feel okay, and think the drive is short, including a drive home from a relative’s house a few miles away. Alcohol affects judgment, which means you can’t rely on how you feel to decide whether you are able to drive safely.

Planning a Ride Home

Book a rideshare, call a taxi, or choose a sober driver before you start drinking. Some ways to make that easier:

  • Save a ride service’s number in your phone before you leave the house. It’s harder to arrange a ride at 11 p.m. in the middle of a party.
  • If you’re hosting, have a place for guests to sleep. A spare room or a couch is easier than arguing over car keys at midnight.
  • If you’re the designated driver, skip alcohol entirely. One drink means someone else needs to drive. This is especially true because “1 drink” doesn’t always equal 1 drink in the technical sense. House parties might be serving drink that will get you buzzed or drunk in one go. Bars and restaurants also serve single drinks that include several servings of alcohol in each.
  • If you’re a guest in Bay County or anywhere along the Florida Panhandle, ask about staying over when you accept the invitation to visit.
  • If a friend is about to drive after drinking, take the keys or offer a ride.

Rideshares and taxis cost money. A DUI arrest costs a good deal more money and also a lot of headache and maybe jailtime. A crash will be much more than that still.

Drinking at Family Gatherings

Thanksgiving comes with a lot of drinking for plenty of families. If you’ve noticed you can’t skip a drink or stop at one, that’s worth paying attention to. The same goes for driving after drinks. If you’ve done it before and told yourself you were fine, it may be a sign that alcohol is taking up more room in your life than you want.

If you’re in recovery or trying to cut back, bring a non-alcoholic drink you like, tell one person at the gathering what you’re doing, and have a way to leave when you want to. Leaving early is a reasonable plan. Thanksgiving may also just not be worth attending if you are in early recovery and a lot of drinking is involved. Especially if that drinking also comes with emotional or difficult family situations.

If someone in your family is struggling, talk to them before the holiday rather than in the middle of it. Put alcohol-free drinks on your own table for Thanksgiving. If they say they’re ready to talk to someone, help them make the call that day.

Getting Help

If you’ve been drinking heavily every day, don’t stop suddenly on your own. Alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous, and a medically supervised detox is a safer way to begin.

Our residential program for drug and alcohol rehab is in Panama City. You can call us today.