Risk of Connecticut Accidents Increases Over the Holiday Season
The holiday weekend is always a dangerous time for drivers. There are quite a few reasons why drivers may be at greater risk of becoming involved in a crash over the holiday season, including the fact that more people tend to drive during the holidays and the fact that people may be more likely to drive drunk. More people drive as they go on vacation or drive to visit family, while the drunk driving increase can be attributed to people celebrating the holidays and having a few drinks too many. 
Unfortunately, the increased risk of holiday crashes can result in innocent victims becoming injured. Our Hartford injury attorneys urge all drivers to use extra caution this holiday season to avoid hurting yourself or hurting someone else when out driving.
Holiday Accidents a Very Real Risk
To understand the increased danger of holiday auto accidents, it is helpful to look at what happened over Thanksgiving just a few short weeks ago. According to the New Haven Register:
- Police throughout Connecticut responded to approximately 350 auto accidents over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
- 60 people were charged with driving under the influence over Thanksgiving.
- Almost 1,500 speeding tickets were issued by Connecticut state police over the Thanksgiving holiday.
- Two fatal car crashes occurred over Thanksgiving.
- Drivers were cited for more than 2,800 hazardous moving violations by law enforcement over Thanksgiving.
- More than 80 people who received tickets over Thanksgiving were cited for a failure to wear their seat belts.
As these statistics show, many people were taking dangerous risks over the holidays by driving drunk, going too fast or failing to wear their seatbelt. Unfortunately, these individuals who engaged in risky driving behavior put everyone on the road at risk- including innocent people who were driving safely and following traffic laws.
Staying Safe Over the Holiday Season
While Thanksgiving is over for this year, this doesn’t mean that the dangers of a holiday auto accident have passed. Most experts indicate that the elevated risk of holiday traffic accidents can extend through until January 2, with certain key dates including New Years Eve and the days shortly before Christmas representing the most dangerous days to drive.
If you intend to travel anywhere during the holidays, especially on peak travel days or for long distances, you should keep some basic safety tips in mind in order to reduce your holiday accident risk. Some safety tips to consider include the following:
- Refraining from going faster than is safe given the current traffic and road conditions. Obviously, you should also stay under the speed limit when driving- but you may need to go even slower than required to be safe.
- Don’t tailgate or engage in aggressive driving behaviors that could put you at risk.
- Pay attention to winter weather advisory warnings and try to avoid driving in bad weather whenever possible.
- Switch off drivers or take plenty of rests on long trips so you don’t drive drowsy.
- Have a designated driver so you do not drive drunk, and never let your friends or family drive drunk.
These safe driving tips help to ensure you won’t cause a crash and injure yourself or others. Of course, another person on the road might still injure you or even cause a fatal crash that kills someone you love. If this occurs, getting a lawyer is absolutely essential to understand your legal rights under Connecticut law.
Contact the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli, by calling 1-800-WIN-WIN-1 or at 100 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105.