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Holiday drunk driving statistics (2024)

About 37% of the fatal crashes that happen during holiday periods involve a drunk driver, a higher percentage than on non-holidays.

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By

Andrew HurstSenior Editor & Licensed Auto Insurance ExpertAndrew Hurst is a senior editor at Policygenius who has spent his entire career writing about life, disability, home, auto, and health insurance. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Forbes, USA Today, NPR, Mic, Insurance Business Magazine, and Property Casualty 360.

Edited by

Anna SwartzAnna SwartzSenior Managing EditorAnna Swartz is a senior managing editor who specializes in home, auto, renters, and disability insurance at Policygenius. Previously, she was a senior staff writer at Mic and a writer at The Dodo. Her work has also appeared in Salon, HuffPost, MSN, AOL, and Heeb.

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According to recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 29.8% of all fatal car accidents from 2018 to 2022 involved a drunk driver. But on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and the period between Christmas and New Year’s Day, 37.4% of fatal crashes involved drunk drivers.

Key takeaways

  • From 2018 to 2022 there were 3,722 fatal crashes and 4,214 car accident deaths involving a drunk driver during holidays.

  • 11.2% of these fatal crashes involved drivers ages 15 to 20.

  • Fatal crashes involving drunk driving are about 27% more common during holiday periods than other times of the year.

Methodology: How we got the data on this page

We found the number of fatal crashes that happened over five holiday periods by analyzing accident data from the Fatality and Injury Reporting System (FARS), which is maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

These holiday periods cover five federal holidays from 2018 to 2022 — which includes the most recent available data — Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and the period from Christmas to New Years Day. 

FARS assigns a different number of days to these periods depending on where in the week they fall each year. Thanksgiving covers 4.5 days. Labor Day covers 3.5 days, and the Fourth of July and the period between Christmas to New Year’s Day vary.

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How many crashes during the holidays involve drunk driving?

From 2018 to 2022 there were 3,722 fatal car crashes during holidays that involved a drunk driver. 

That’s about 37.4% of all of the fatal car accidents that happened during the holidays (10,083), which is higher than the percentage of fatal crashes involving a drunk driver during non-holiday times (29.4%).

Labor Day was the holiday with the highest number of drunk-driving-involved fatal accidents during that period, with 865, while the holiday with the highest percentage of fatal crashes involving drunk driving was Memorial Day (39.6%).

Fatal crashes involving drunk driving

Total number of fatal crashes

Labor Day

865

2,244

Memorial Day

815

2,058

Fourth of July

803

2,043

Thanksgiving

748

2,231

Christmas

541

1,507

Total

3,722

10,083

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About 6.9% of all fatal car crashes involving a drunk driver take place during holiday periods. We found that Texas had the highest number of fatal car accidents during the holidays of any state (475 from 2018 to 2022).

In Delaware, 10.8% of all fatal alcohol-related crashes occurred during holidays, the highest share of any state.

Fatal crashes involving a drunk driver over a holiday

Percent of fatal crashes involving a drunk driver that happened over a holiday

Texas

475

6.5%

California

396

7.1%

Florida

274

6.8%

Georgia

139

7.2%

North Carolina

138

6.9%

Ohio

119

6.1%

South Carolina

119

7.4%

Illinois

119

6.8%

New York

112

7.4%

Michigan

111

8.1%

Tennessee

90

6.2%

Pennsylvania

90

6.0%

Virginia

90

7.1%

Arizona

89

5.7%

Louisiana

87

7.8%

Alabama

84

7.1%

Missouri

84

6.7%

Wisconsin

75

8.5%

Indiana

74

6.9%

Colorado

66

7.1%

Maryland

66

8.2%

New Jersey

65

9.3%

Washington

60

6.0%

Oklahoma

59

7.5%

Oregon

58

6.6%

Kentucky

57

7.5%

Arkansas

54

7.6%

Mississippi

48

6.7%

New Mexico

46

7.8%

Connecticut

45

8.4%

Iowa

44

8.9%

Minnesota

37

7.1%

Nevada

34

7.0%

Kansas

32

7.5%

Montana

32

8.5%

Massachusetts

28

4.9%

West Virginia

23

7.7%

Nebraska

21

7.2%

Idaho

20

6.7%

Delaware

17

10.8%

New Hampshire

16

8.3%

South Dakota

16

8.4%

Utah

13

4.7%

Hawaii

12

7.7%

Maine

12

5.2%

North Dakota

10

6.4%

Wyoming

7

4.1%

Rhode Island

5

4.4%

Vermont

5

6.0%

District of Columbia

4

9.1%

Alaska

4

4.4%

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How many holiday drunk-driving accidents involve young drivers?

From 2018 to 2022 a total of 421 young drivers (ages 15 to 20) were involved in fatal alcohol-related crashes during holidays.

Labor Day (93 fatal crashes involving drunk driving) and the Fourth of July (91) were the most dangerous holidays for young drivers, followed by Thanksgiving (89), Memorial Day (85), and Christmas to New Year’s Day (63).

Texas had the highest number of these accidents by far (73), about 15.4% of all fatal, alcohol-related crashes during holidays.

Fatal alcohol-related fatal crashes during the holidays involving a young driver (15-20)

Texas

73

California

35

Florida

30

Georgia

15

Michigan

15

Ohio

14

New York

14

Tennessee

13

Pennsylvania

13

Arizona

13

South Carolina

12

Illinois

12

Indiana

12

Colorado

12

North Carolina

10

Alabama

10

Virginia

9

New Jersey

9

Washington

9

Louisiana

7

Oklahoma

7

Mississippi

7

Kansas

7

Oregon

6

New Mexico

6

Iowa

6

Kentucky

5

Connecticut

5

Maryland

4

Idaho

4

Missouri

3

Wisconsin

3

Arkansas

3

Minnesota

3

Nevada

3

New Hampshire

3

Montana

2

Massachusetts

2

Nebraska

2

Delaware

2

Utah

2

Hawaii

2

West Virginia

1

South Dakota

1

Wyoming

1

Rhode Island

1

District of Columbia

1

Alaska

1

Maine

0

North Dakota

0

Vermont

0

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Number of deaths from car crashes involving alcohol during the holidays

Across all U.S. states, there were 4,214 deaths during the holidays in fatal crashes involving a drunk driver, 38% of all car accident fatalities that happened during the holidays.

The highest number of car accident deaths involving alcohol occurred over Labor Day (959), followed by Memorial Day (921), Fourth of July (896), Thanksgiving (833), and Christmas (605).

Texas had the most deaths from fatal crashes involving drunk drivers (532). Alcohol was most frequently a factor in fatal holiday crashes in Wisconsin, where 52% of car crash fatalities during the holidays involved a drunk driver.

Deaths in fatal crashes involving alcohol over the holidays

Texas

532

California

444

Florida

326

Georgia

159

North Carolina

149

Ohio

134

Illinois

131

South Carolina

130

New York

121

Michigan

120

Pennsylvania

100

Arizona

99

Tennessee

98

Virginia

98

Louisiana

96

Alabama

91

Missouri

88

Indiana

83

Wisconsin

81

New Jersey

76

Colorado

74

Oklahoma

72

Maryland

68

Oregon

64

Washington

63

Kentucky

62

Mississippi

57

Arkansas

56

Connecticut

55

New Mexico

54

Iowa

53

Minnesota

38

Nevada

38

Montana

37

Kansas

33

Massachusetts

29

West Virginia

27

Nebraska

26

Idaho

24

South Dakota

22

Delaware

20

New Hampshire

19

Maine

15

Utah

13

Hawaii

12

North Dakota

12

Wyoming

8

Rhode Island

5

Vermont

5

Alaska

4

District of Columbia

4

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How drunk driving during the holidays compares to other driving dangers

Drunk driving is present in 37.4% of fatal crashes during the holidays, which is higher than the percentage of car accidents where speeding is present, and a lot higher than those involving drowsy driving.

Here’s how often drunk drivers, speeding, or drowsy driving played a part in fatal car crashes broken down by holiday.

Percent of accidents involving a drunk driver

Percent of accidents involving speeding

Percent of accidents involving drowsy driving

Memorial Day

39.6%

31.5%

7.6%

Fourth of July

39.3%

29.7%

8.1%

Labor Day

38.5%

31.2%

7.2%

Christmas and New Year’s

35.9%

29.5%

6.2%

Thanksgiving

33.5%

28.5%

6.7%

Does getting a DUI affect your car insurance?

Yes, if you get cited for a DUI, DWI, or another moving violation involving alcohol or drugs, you may not be able to renew your auto insurance policy. Your car insurance rates will also go up, possibly by thousands of dollars a year.

If you drive drunk and get in an accident, your car insurance will cover any damage you cause to other cars. If you have full coverage, damage to your own car will be covered too, but car insurance won’t cover some of the other repercussions of a DUI, like a mandatory fine. Your car insurance company may also decline to renew your policy after a DUI, and you may need to shop around for expensive, high-risk car insurance.

→ Read more about car insurance after a DUI

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Author

Andrew Hurst is a senior editor at Policygenius who has spent his entire career writing about life, disability, home, auto, and health insurance. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Forbes, USA Today, NPR, Mic, Insurance Business Magazine, and Property Casualty 360.

Editor

Anna Swartz is a senior managing editor who specializes in home, auto, renters, and disability insurance at Policygenius. Previously, she was a senior staff writer at Mic and a writer at The Dodo. Her work has also appeared in Salon, HuffPost, MSN, AOL, and Heeb.

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