Like most Americans, celebrating the Fourth of July this week means attending picnics and cookouts in the middle of the day and watching fireworks at night. As a result, there will likely be impaired drivers on the road during the daytime hours. Most people associate drunken driving and drunken driving arrests with nighttime. Alcohol-related car crashes are five times more likely to happen at night, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
In addition, law enforcement usually establishes sobriety checkpoints at night. However, during any holiday, there are likely to be drunken drivers on the roads in daylight hours. More people are off work and decide to go to a friend’s house for a cookout, and four or five beers later, they get in their cars and drive home. Drivers often have a false sense of security that law enforcement is not on the lookout for drunken drivers in the daylight.
Safety experts also think that the nation’s bad economy contributes to daytime drunken driving. Americans who are out of work might be turning to daytime drinking out of frustration. Subsequently, they get in their cars in the middle of the afternoon and put other drivers and pedestrians at risk.
Be vigilant when you are on the road. Stay clear of any vehicle you observe swerving or driving erratically. Law enforcement cannot catch all drunken drivers, and innocent drivers and pedestrians can suffer injury or death. Contact our office if a drunk and driver injures you or a loved one.
Colson Hicks Eidson – Florida injury attorneys
