This Thanksgiving Eve, 15 officers from 10 Bucks County Police Departments will participate in a DUI Traffic Patrol across the county.
The patrol campaign, “Make It to the Table: Don’t Drink and Drive this Thanksgiving Eve,” will stretch from Bensalem to Warrington from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., the day before Thanksgiving.
• From 2014 to 2018, 138 drivers involved in fatal crashes on Thanksgiving Eve (6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m.) were alcohol-impaired, and over the entire holiday period (6 p.m. the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through 5:59 a.m. the Monday after Thanksgiving) more than 800 people died in alcohol-impaired crashes.
• During the 2018 Thanksgiving holiday period (6 p.m. Wednesday, November 21, through 5:59 a.m. Monday, November 26), more than three times as many drivers involved in fatal crashes were alcohol-impaired during nighttime hours than during the day.
• Over the past 5 years (2014-2018), 47% of drivers between the ages of 21 and 34 involved in fatal car crashes on Thanksgiving Eve were impaired by alcohol.
• Approximately one-third of all traffic crash fatalities in the United States involve drunk drivers (with blood alcohol concentrations [BACs] of .08 or higher). In 2018, there were 10,511 people killed in drunk-driving crashes.
• Despite the fact that it’s illegal to drive when impaired by alcohol, in 2018, one person was killed every 50 minutes in an alcohol-impaired driving crash on our nation’s roads.