The holiday season brings with it joy and family, as long as dangerous roads and drivers. Between Thanksgiving and the end of New Year’s weekend are the DUI high points for the year.

Holiday and travel are a dangerous combination. Starting with the night before Thanksgiving, which is considered the busiest bar night of the year. Thanksgiving weekend is also the most traveled holiday period of the year, with almost 90% traveling by car. Federal traffic safety data shows that the daily death toll from drunk driving during the holiday season is significantly more than the rest of the year.

According to the NHSTSA, between 2001-2005 an average of 36 fatalities occurred per day in the U.S as a result of crashes involving an alcohol impaired driver. The number increases to 45 per day during the Christmas period and escalates even higher to 54 per day over New Years!

Another report shows that between 1998 and 2008 there was an average of 572 deaths annually on U.S highways during Thanksgiving holiday. 36% of those deaths were alcohol related, which makes an average of 51 per day. The national safety commission blames speeding and tired and/or sleepy drivers, as well as those who have in taken alcohol, for the high number of deaths.

Make sure to not drink and drive! Take a taxi.

If you are hit or injured by a drunk driver this holiday season make sure to call our offices for legal advice or representation. No good can come out of an accident, especially one that involves substance abuse! We will make the legal aspects easier so you are able to continue with your life as normally as you can. Remember to be safe and remind others to do the same!

The San Diego-based Office of attorney Keith J. Stone serves the following areas in Southern California:

San Diego, Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Ventura Counties including the cities of:

San Diego, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Ana, Anaheim, Riverside, Chula Vista, Irvine, Glendale, San Bernardino, Huntington Beach, Oxnard, Fontana, Moreno Valley, Oceanside, Rancho Cucamonga, Santa Clarita, Garden Grove, Ontario, Pomona, Palmdale, Pasadena, Corona, Torrance, Escondido, Lancaster, Orange, Fullerton, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, El Monte, Inglewood, Costa Mesa, Downey, West Covina, Victorville, San Buenaventura (Ventura), Norwalk, Burbank, Carlsbad, Temecula, South Gate, Murrieta, Mission Viejo, Rialto, Compton, El Cajon, Carson, Vista, Westminster, Santa Maria, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Hawthorne, Alhambra, Hesperia, Whittier, Newport Beach, Chino, San Marcos, Buena Park, Lakewood, Indio, Baldwin Park, Chino Hills, Blythe

Keith J. Stone also handles cases originating elsewhere in California and across the USA.