Drunk driving collisions are some of the most senseless automotive wrecks that occur. Although public awareness about the dangers of drunk driving is almost universal, a shocking number of people still choose to drive while drunk because they don’t think about it the risk they pose to others or because they overestimate their own driving skills.
As a safety-minded adult with a family, you inevitably want to do whatever you can to help your loved ones enjoy long, healthy and ideally injury-free lives. Minimizing the risk of a drunk driving crash can go a long way toward keeping the people you love safer. What are some of the ways that you can reduce your family’s risk of experiencing an alcohol-related collision?
Know your own limits, and model responsibility
When you choose to avoid alcohol before driving or driving after drinking, you lead by example for your children. Consistently making responsible choices about how you consume alcohol and when you drive will teach them to follow the same rules when they can get their licenses.
Many children hurt in drunk driving crashes are in vehicles driven by family members, so choosing to avoid impaired driving yourself will greatly reduce the risk for the people you love the most.
Know when you need to watch the roads more carefully
There could be a third-shift worker driving home drunk after stopping at the bar who causes a crash at 11:00 in the morning on a Tuesday. There is very little rhyme or reason to when the average impaired driving collision occurs.
However, when you look at national statistics, there are a few patterns that emerge related to fatal drunk driving crashes. A significant percentage of them occur late at night, specifically between midnight and 3:00 in the morning. Weekends also tend to see a spike in drunk driving collisions, especially weekends that include holidays or fall immediately before or after major holidays.
Although you can’t just stay off the road for the entire week after Thanksgiving every year to avoid crossing paths with a drunk driver, you can be a little more aware of other people and cautious on the road during times when you recognize the risk of encountering a drunk driver is higher.
Acting to minimize certain kinds of crash risk can reduce the possibility that the people you love will experience a major motor vehicle collision.