Statistics show that the holidays are the prime season for drunk drivers. Around this time of the year, there’s a huge increase in DUI arrests and drunk driving accidents. Therefore, you may want to take this into consideration when you plan your holiday travels. Since safety is the most important thing, check out these ways to avoid holiday drunk drivers during your travels this season.
Holiday Drunk Drivers: Signs of Impairment
Don’t Drive Late at Night
Late night time hours are the most popular times for drunk driving. That’s when most people are leaving holiday parties and bars, where they’ve been drinking. Therefore, the earlier you can stay off the roads, the better. However, you want to certainly avoid hitting the roads from around midnight and later.
Instead, you may consider leaving your party a little early in hopes of avoiding holiday drunk drivers. In the case that you traveling out of town, try to hit the roads first thing in the morning. Typically, this will mean less traffic and less likelihood of facing holiday drunk drivers.
Stick to the Right Lane
A number of drunk driving accidents occur because of intoxicated drivers that drive on the wrong side of the road. Therefore, when trying to avoid holiday drunk drivers, stick to the far right lane. By doing so, you may be able to avoid holiday drunk drivers that are swerving onto your side of the road.
Report Drivers
Reporting drivers is an important part of avoiding holiday drunk drivers. When you see a vehicle on the road that shows signs of an intoxicated driver, it’s good to inform law enforcement. For instance, signs of drunk driving may include swerving, braking unnecessarily, or problems regulating their speed. In the case that you a see a driver struggling with these actions, you should pull over.
Since they are having problems managing the vehicle safely, you don’t want to share the road with them. Therefore, you can create some distance by pulling over. Then, you’ll want to inform local authorities. Report the behavior of the vehicle and be ready to describe what the vehicle looked like. By doing so, you can avoid holiday drunk drivers and help others do so too.