NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. —The night before Thanksgiving has developed a reputation for heavy alcohol consumption and binge drinking. Unfortunately, that trend isn’t isolated to the evening before the holiday.
"There seems to be a trend where, when people get back together during the holidays with family and friends that they haven't seen in awhile, people like to get out and celebrate and maybe hit the bars, or just have some celebration at home," said Shawn Steward with AAA Kansas. "We refer to it as Drinksgiving or Blackout Wednesday. Drinking is part of celebrations and unfortunately, drinking and driving has become an issue in a lot of places."
More than 830 people died nationwide in crashes involving a drunk driver over the Thanksgiving holiday period ― Wednesday through Sunday ― from 2017 to 2021, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
"In Kansas, during the five day extended Thanksgiving holiday from 2017 to 2021, 27 people died in traffic crashes, including five that included alcohol impairment," Steward said. "Of the almost 3400 vehicle crashes overall that occurred during this period, 128 of those were alcohol-related."
Impaired driving also endangers the lives of law enforcement, tow truck operators, emergency response teams and others working at the side of the road.
"A lot of people think, oh, I'm just a little bit buzzed," Steward said. "Buzzed driving is drunk driving. You don't know exactly how impaired you are. Sometimes people's judgment is clouded by that alcohol and they think they are fine to drive, but in reality, they are over the limit, in terms of blood alcohol content. It's just safe, if you are going to be drinking, to make sure that somebody who is completely sober is going to be doing the driving."
Get sober before getting behind the wheel. Only TIME works―not coffee nor cold showers. It takes about 1 hour to burn off an average drink. Five ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer or 1½ ounces of liquor all contain about the same amount of alcohol.
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