Every year on March 17th, we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, which began as a feast day in honor of the patron saint of Ireland, but has since become a secular celebration of Irish culture in the U.S.
And every year on March 17th, we also see an increase in motor vehicle accidents, especially those involving alcohol.
The Ryan Law Group, a personal injury law firm located in Manhattan Beach, California, analyzed data from UC Berkeley’s TIMS (Transportation Injury Mapping System) and found that MVAs (motor vehicle accidents) increase by around 10% each year on St. Patrick’s Day, compared to the day prior.
MVAs increased 100% in 2018 alone. March 17th saw 346 collisions, while March 16th saw 173 collisions.
Moreover, DUI-involved MVAs on March 17th of each year rise around 10% from the day before.
The day that St. Patrick’s Day falls on does have some influence on the accident amount, of course. If St. Patrick’s Day starts on a weekday, people are less likely to travel out to celebrate. If it falls on a weekend, we tend to see more people on the road and thus more MVAs that day.
But regardless of the day it falls on, people are drinking on St. Patrick’s Day. According to WalletHub, 174% more beer and 153% more spirits than usual are sold on St. Patrick’s Day. And on the holiday, the average number of drinks consumed per person is around 4.
But drinking on its own is not the issue. According to the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), around 60% of all crashes that occur between midnight and 6 a.m. on March 18th (the morning immediately following the celebration) involve drunk drivers.
So what can you do to stay safe? If you plan on celebrating St. Patrick’s Day this year, plan your rides ahead of time. And even if you have a designated driver or plan on taking a rideshare, try to avoid being on the roads between the hours of midnight and 3 a.m., when drunk drivers are most prevalent.
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