Pascoe Law Firm
CAR ACCIDENT LAWYER
Principal office located in Friendswood, Texas.
Available to service League City, Webster, Pearland, Galveston, and the surrounding areas within Texas.
Memorial Day Car Accident Lawyer
Memorial Day Weekend: The Deadliest U.S. Holiday for Car Accidents
While all holiday weekends carry an increased risk of car accident fatalities, Memorial Day weekend stands out as the deadliest. In fact, drivers and passengers are four times as likely to die in a traffic accident over the Memorial Day weekend as over a regular weekend this spring. They looked at traffic fatalities on all major U.S. holidays using statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and found that Memorial Day weekend had the highest average fatality rate with 312 fatal accidents per year between 2011 and 2015. Labor Day weekend and the Fourth of July weekend didn’t fare much better with an average of 308 and 307 fatalities per year respectively. Of all the individual days around big summer holidays, the most dangerous day was the Fourth of July.
How to Reduce your Car Accident Risk this Memorial Day Weekend
Holiday Safe Driving Tips
Driving safety tips:
- Avoid Distracted Driving: especially using your cell phone. If you need to communicate with friends or family have a passenger send the message or pull over.
- Leave Plenty of Time to Reach Your Destination.
- Use Vehicle Seat belts: make sure everyone in the vehicle is using safety belts and children are in appropriate child seats or booster seats.
- Avoid Drowsy Driving: Do not drive when very fatigued.
- Do Not Drive Impaired by Drugs or Alcohol: assign a designated driver or arrange to sleep at your location if you become intoxicated.
- Leave Early: if possible, drive early in the morning when the sun is up but before the worst of the traffic begins.
- Do Not Engage In Aggressive Driving: if someone tail gates you, pull over and let them pass.
- Leave Space In Front: Keep a four second space between your vehicle and the vehicle in front of you on the freeway.
- Follow Speed Limits and Traffic Signals.
- Drive Defensively: keep an eye out for cars running red lights or driving erratically and stay out of their way if possible.
Knowing these dangers probably will not deter you from driving to your holiday celebrations. But keep in mind today’s No. 1 safety tip: Texting or other distracted driving is more dangerous than driving drunk. If you need to tell your relatives you are running late, pull over.
How Do Each Major Holiday Weekend Rank for Fatal Car Accidents?
- 312 fatal accidents per year
- Deadliest City Nationally: Houston
- In assessing driving risks, using statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show traffic fatalities over all the major holidays. Memorial Day led with an average of 312 fatal accidents per year over the period 2011 to 2015. You are four times as likely to die in a traffic accident over the Memorial Day weekend as over a regular weekend. AAA forecasts that 39.3 million Americans will travel more than 50 miles over an average Memorial Day weekend. Of that number, an estimated 34.6 million, or 88 percent, will be driving.
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2. Labor Day Weekend
- 308 fatal accidents per year
- A lot of people spend this holiday at barbecues, drinking, or celebrating at the beach or someones pool. As a result, this weekend has a high amount of traffic accidents.
3. 4th of July Weekend
- 307 fatal accidents per year
- Deadliest City Nationally: Houston
- Driving on any of the big summer weekend holidays is much more dangerous than on a normal weekend. The most dangerous single day — rather than weekend — is July 4, perhaps because many families are driving at night to and from fireworks displays.
4. Easter Weekend
- 280 fatal accidents per year
- This holiday has a lot of people on the roads. Many travel to celebrate this religious holiday with their family by visiting loved ones or meeting to attend religious services together.
5. Thanksgiving Weekend
- 258 fatal accidents per year
- While this is one of the most traveled holidays, many travel longer distances by planes or trains. This might reduce some of the auto related accidents that occur. However, the statistics speak for themselves and still a very dangerous holiday to be on the road.
6. New Year’s Eve / New Year’s Day
- 245 fatal accidents per year
- Deadliest Cities: Houston
- Surprisingly, New Year’s weekend was the second-least dangerous holiday, with an average of 245 fatal accidents per year between 2011 and 2015. It may be that years of public service announcements have convinced party-goers not to drink and drive.
7. Christmas
- 231 fatal accidents per year
- Deadliest Cities: San Antonio
- Christmas had the lowest level of fatalities at 231.
- Leading up to Christmas the month of December has an increase in the amounts of auto accidents compared to other months. This could be due to the weather. But, Often many of these accidents are due to the increased amount of people shopping for the holiday season, attending holiday parties, and visiting friends and family.
