Many families in Texas get together for the holidays, regardless of how far they have to travel. However, changing weather conditions and congested roadways can make driving during the holidays particularly hazardous. Thanksgiving weekend has been a notoriously dangerous period.
Hundreds of fatalities expected for Thanksgiving weekend
If recent trends continue, then there should be more than 500 car accident fatalities this Thanksgiving weekend. That was the prediction made by the National Safety Council, or NSC, based on analysis of car accident data from the past few decades. The NSC also predicted that there would be around 58,800 nonfatal car accident injuries over Thanksgiving weekend.
What is Thanksgiving weekend?
The NSC considers Thanksgiving weekend to be the period between the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving and the Sunday evening after Thanksgiving. During that time, there are a lot of cars on the roadways as people go visit family, stock up on food and shop for Black Friday deals.
In addition to congestion, the roads on Thanksgiving weekend can have a higher number of drunk drivers. In 2019, 29% of the fatal car crashes that happened over Thanksgiving weekend involved drunk drivers.
Stay safe this holiday season
Being aware of the known dangers may help you to stay safer on the roadways this holiday season. The best way to mitigate your risk of being in a car accident is to limit your driving. If you can do your holiday shopping before the rush and stock up on supplies for the entire week, this could mean less time you have to spend on the road. As always, you should never forget to put your seat belt on and watch out for distracted or impaired drivers.
