Behind New Year’s, Christmas and the Fourth of July, St. Patrick’s Day is the fourth most popular drinking day of the year with over 51% of Americans planning to celebrate.
That means drunk driving violations by past offenders will likely go up 17% on Friday, compared to any other day of the year, and are expected to be 50% higher than they would be on a St. Patrick's Day that doesn't fall at the end of the week.
If you aren't concerned about getting to and from your St. Paddy's celebration, you probably should be. Between 2011 and 2015, 252 drunk driving deaths occurred on St. Patrick’s Day. Equally scary, 75% of St. Paddy’s day drunk driving crashes involved drivers that had a blood alcohol level over twice the legal limit.
So be careful out there, and find a designated driver who will drink green tea instead of beer!
Source: The Street
Picture credit: iStockphoto