Factors Contributing to Increased Occurrence of Car Accidents During Holidays

Factors Contributing to Increased Occurrence of Car Accidents During Holidays

During holidays, especially Christmas Day and Independence Day for example, the number of cars present along american roads are doubled or tripled than usual traffic flow as most people tend to celebrate it out on a trip or visiting family from places to be together on that specific holiday, this could also mean that the tendency of car crash occurrence in that specific time frame or the whole season. 

Given that car accidents has different contributing factors, holiday season is considered a collective factor for an accident to happen as presence of high human density, involvement of alcohol and substance, and snow season (during Winter) are there, and too many for an accident not to occur. It is also evident that high numbers of car accidents were recorded during these seasons especially Christmas Day and no, it is not coincidence. 

In this blog, we are going to talk about common factors in a car accident during holidays especially Christmas Day and New Year and what are recommended actions to take when experiencing or involved in scenarios linking to such factors. 

1. Bad Weather Condition
   
   Most areas across United States have severe winter season issues to an extent where has damaged properties which are unexpectedly affected by the cold weather such as cars. During these conditions, snow, fog, and its wind are strong determinant for an accident to occur as they render driver's vision and control over the vehicle to minimum.
   
   People who were planning to travel by road to celebrate their holidays with their family are advised by authority to plan their travel and check weather forecast to avoid travelling with the presence of winter risks and safely arrive at desired destination. 
   
   
2. Drunk Driving and Fatigue Driving 
   
   As many people chose to travel by road and drive for more than 4 hours which they have setted to travel from early morning, which is draining especially in traffic, there is no question why some drivers who were involved in crash reasoned fatigue driving as the cause of the said crash. This specific phenomenon is also called fatigue driving wherein a driver has little to none energy to focus on driving and react to its surrounding due to lack of sleep, worn out from hours of driving, or even just woke up and has setted to drive on midnight which is scary as it has similar effects and narrative to drunk driving. Drunk driving, on the other hand, is a similar phenomenon to fatigue driving, wherein a drver who is under influence of alcohol and intoxicated with it to able to drive a vehicle. The driver has lesser and blurry vision, bad reaction time, and vague conviction along road which are all scary individually, and deadly when all of these are present in a single driver. 
   
   According to National Safety Council (NSC) in their observation in 2019, alcohol-involved deaths account for less than 30% of total traffic fatalities in the United States which were all preventable. People celebrating holidays were recommended to avoid drinking too much alcohol or no alcohol at all when you and your companions are not going to stay for the night and had to travel back by road or if possible, bring a non-drinking driving companion to drive you back home. 
   
   
3. Visiting drivers and risk of Unfamiliar Roads

   Most people who travel to their family members from afar are not familiar with those roads as some visited for the first time and this pose a risk for other road users and this risk increases the tendency of crash to occur at night due to low visibility. Since most driver drive at moderate speed or the safe/sweet spot of driving speed, when they were not familiar with roads and has unexpected sharp curves or unfinished road projects obstruct along the road, they are still in peril and likely to be involved in an accident. 

Ryan LLP 

If ever one of your family members or closests friend has been involved in an accident who have sustained either minor or significant injuries and even a possible case of amputation because of a driver has shown apparent negligence and recklessness and caused an accident and render the victim to have life-threatening injuries and condition, you can always refer help from a professional experienced injury lawyer to smoothen things out as your hired lawyers can help you decide from their factual and legal advices and can help you sort things out legally rather than settling over cash offer without damage calculation and future's regards. 

Ryan LLP is an Ohio based injury lawyer that represents victims of personal injury caused by car accidents, medical malpractice due to medical professional's negligence, and even wrongful death against large companies, agencies and even individuals. We have 40 years of experience doing our service in this field and evidently successful with our civil litigations. Call our office now for free legal consultation.