It is virtually Fourth of July weekend, which implies events, celebratory fireworks and disappointing burgers served by dads who do not truly know what they’re doing on the grill. However hey, that is nothing a pleasant, thick slice of unmelted cheddar cheese cannot make worse. Sadly, I could not be capable of persuade everybody to serve one thing higher than overcooked baseball-shaped burgers, however hopefully, I can at the very least persuade you to be additional cautious on the street this week and give you a plan to keep away from drunk and even tipsy driving on one of many deadliest weekends of the yr.
In accordance with the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration, 617 individuals died in automobile crashes through the 2023 Fourth of July vacation interval, with 38% of these attributed to drunk driving crashes. That is 233 deaths associated to drunk driving. Between 2019 and 2023, we noticed 2,653 street deaths associated to Fourth of July celebrations, with an similar 38% of crashes brought on by drunk drivers. Younger individuals between the ages of 21 and 34 had been extra prone to drive drunk, accounting for 48% of drunk drivers in lethal crashes.
It will be nice if “ingesting and driving might kill you or another person” had been sufficient to persuade individuals to remain sober whereas they’re on the street, however sadly, it is not. So it is also value reminding everybody that the cops additionally know individuals like to drink and drive over the vacation weekend, and can possible be out in drive over the subsequent week, particularly in search of drunk drivers. If the chance of killing your self or others is not sufficient to maintain you from driving whereas intoxicated, possibly the specter of being arrested and charged with a DUI that would simply value you greater than $10,000 will.
Tipsy driving remains to be harmful
It is simple to imagine most of these crashes had been brought on by drivers who had been critically intoxicated, and you’ll, in fact, by no means drive in case you had been actually drunk, however because the NHTSA stats present, in 2023, solely 27% of the lethal Fourth of July drunk driving crashes concerned a driver with a blood-alcohol content material twice the authorized restrict or extra. The overwhelming majority of these crashes concerned drivers with decrease BACs who possible thought they had been good to drive however truly weren’t.
On high of that, many states have impaired driving legal guidelines that enable officers to arrest drivers whose BAC is under the authorized restrict. In Georgia, for instance, you could be charged with DUI Much less Secure, even in case you aren’t legally above the restrict. And on a vacation weekend recognized for drunk driving, count on any officer who can hand a type of out to take action.
Contemplating how scorching it’s going to most certainly be, it’s very comprehensible that you just’d need to have a good time the vacation weekend with a couple of chilly ones, however in case you plan to take action, please give you a plan to get dwelling with out driving. Even the exorbitant value of an Uber might be far cheaper than the price of a DUI, and it additionally would not include the added danger of killing your self or another person.
After all, that is quite a bit simpler to do in case you’re one of many few U.S. Individuals who reside in an actual metropolis that gives a semi-functional public transportation system, since you possibly can simply take the prepare or stroll dwelling. Most Individuals, nevertheless, are caught getting round by automobile on roads filled with drunk, harmful drivers, and we actually hope each single one in all you stays secure this yr. We’d like your clicks, and you’ll’t click on the blogs in case you’re useless or in jail.
