Holidays with High DWI Arrests
Sept. 28, 2019
Holidays can be a wonderful time enjoying fun activities in the presence of family and friends. It's football season and the grills are lighting up and the ice chests are packed with cold beer. But before you have your first drink, you should know how you're getting home safely. Long weekends and holidays tend to be times with increased rates of DWI incidents. Here are some holidays with the highest occurrences of DWI arrests.
New Year's Eve
It's probably not a surprise to learn that New Year's Eve and New Year's Day rank among one of the highest periods of DWI arrests. It is a time celebrated with parties, a midnight kiss, and of course, champagne. Surprisingly enough, according to BACtrack, this holiday is most dangerous for pedestrians. It is important to watch out for other drivers and pedestrians.
Labor Day
In Hidalgo County, Labor Day marks a "No Refusal" initiative where a warrant will be issued to draw blood for drivers that refuse to submit a sample of their breath. Although Labor Day may be surprising to see on this list, it has been a holiday with even more arrests than New Year's Eve in some years.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a time of indulgence, and that includes alcohol. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving sees quite a lot of DWIs. According to NHTSA, Thanksgiving has historically been a dangerous holiday to be on the road. In 2008, not only was it the deadliest Thursday of the year, but also the deadliest holiday.
Christmas
The Christmas break also comes with its share of arrests. The day of the week Christmas falls on tends to have an impact on the number of DWI incidents for that particular year. When Christmas falls on a weekend, we typically see the number of arrests increase dramatically.
What Can You Do?
Make sure you have a designated driver or plan to get home without getting behind the wheel before you decide to celebrate the holidays. We are lucky enough to have Lyft and Uber in our area, so that is also a great alternative. If you do find yourself in an unfortunate situation, make sure you contact an attorney as soon as you possibly can in order to maximize the chances of beating any charges against you. You may also want to read our blog entry on DWI stops as well.