Each year around the holidays, there seems to be a spike in DUI arrests and crashes. Although the Fourth of July currently ranks as the deadliest driving day in the United States, the holiday season running from Thanksgiving through New Year's Day certainly includes more than its fair share of DUI accidents and arrests.

Because so many people will be attending holiday parties--and many people will be drinking alcohol at these parties--law enforcement agencies around Oklahoma set up DUI roadblocks in an effort to take impaired drivers off the streets. (However, these sobriety checkpoints typically yield far more arrests for outstanding warrants than for drunk driving.)

While the holiday season, and New Year's Eve in particular, may have an unfair rap for being the worst time for DUI nationally, it is not inaccurate to say that the season is riskier for travelers than most other times of the year. And in Oklahoma, the New Year holiday still has the highest traffic fatality rate. The Oklahoma Highway Safety Office (OHSO) provides a list of holiday traffic fatalities in 2015:

  • New Year (30 hours from 6:00 p.m. on 12/31/14 to midnight 1/1/15): 6 fatalities (0.20 per hour)
  • Memorial Day (78 hours from 6:00 p.m. on Friday 5/22/15 to midnight Monday 5/25/15): 8 fatalities (0.10 per hour)
  • Independence Day (78 hours from 6:00 p.m. on Thursday 7/2/15 to midnight Sunday 7/5/15): 12 fatalities (0.15 per hour)
  • Labor Day (78 hours from 6:00 p.m. on Friday 9/4/15 to midnight Monday 9/7/15): 9 fatalities (0.12 per hour)
  • Thanksgiving (102 hours from 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday 11/25/15 to midnight Sunday 11/29/15): 10 fatalities (0.10 per hour)
  • Christmas (102 hours from 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday 12/23/15 to midnight Sunday 12/27/15): 6 fatalities (0.06 per hour)

According to these statistics, the New Year holiday still has the highest rate of traffic fatalities in Oklahoma, at 0.20 deaths per hour. And clearly, the holiday season is a dangerous time for drivers and passengers, with 22 people losing their lives on Oklahoma roads between Thanksgiving and the New Year. Of these holiday fatalities, 12 deaths were the result of alcohol-involved crashes. Another 78 people were injured in fall/winter holiday DUI wrecks in Oklahoma in 2015.

Avoid a DUI arrest--or worse, a DUI accident--this season by refraining from driving after drinking. Always find a safe and sober ride home.

Image credit: Josh Hallett