Overview
The weather may make it seem like winter won't end anytime soon but it's just five weeks until St. Patrick's Day. (And then only a few more days until the start of spring, officially anyway).
St. Patrick's Day has become a big day to go out and celebrate among friends with a pint of Guinness or two. But it's also a holiday that sees a spike in alcohol-impaired crashes. Between 2018 and 2022, there were 290 people killed in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes during the St. Patrick's Day holidays (between 6 p.m. March 16 and 6 a.m. March 18). During the 2022 holiday, 74 people died in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes.
Young drivers especially are impacted in these statistics. Drivers between the ages of 21 and 34 accounted for more than a third (34 percent) of alcohol-impaired drivers involved in fatal traffic crashes during the 2022 holiday. And, male drivers were involved in fatal crashes at twice the rate of female drivers (29 percent compared with 14 percent, respectively).
Nighttime driving is often significantly more dangerous than daytime driving but even more so during St. Patrick's Day. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA), 38 percent of drivers involved in fatal traffic crashes between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. were drunk and almost half of drivers involved in fatal crashes between midnight and 3 a.m.
These sobering numbers make it especially important to remember to have a designated driver for your St. Patrick's Day plan. Remember to celebrate responsibly.