Thanksgiving Eve is the biggest drinking night of the year. Young adults are home from college, families have landed, and reunions at bars abound. Unfortunately, where alcohol is involved, so are car accidents. As a result, the day before Thanksgiving has earned the nickname of Blackout Wednesday.

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The Origin of Blackout Wednesday

There is a focus on the risk of auto accidents around Thanksgiving travel, since the roads are crowded and drivers are distracted, impatient, and exhausted. It has only been in the past few years, however, that overdrinking and drunk driving on Thanksgiving Eve have been given a name.

The term Blackout Wednesday, which only seems to have been coined just two years ago, comes from the binge drinking that can occur on the night before Thanksgiving. Binge drinking for men is defined as five or more drinks in a row. For women, binge drinking is considered four or more drinks in a row. High-risk drinking affects your health and safety and can lead to blackouts. Car crashes, not surprisingly, increase with binge drinking.

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Reasons for Binge Drinking on Blackout Wednesday

Overindulging on holidays is nothing new, especially at a time like Thanksgiving which revolves around food. There are plenty of potential reasons – both good and bad – why binge drinking has grown in popularity on Thanksgiving Eve, also known as Drinksgiving. But there is never a good excuse for drinking yourself into oblivion.

• Pretty much everyone has Thursday off.
• Joyful reunions among young adults who are home from college.
• Stress about being with family over the Thanksgiving festivities.
• Poor coping mechanism to get through the holiday.
• Readjusting to expectations and rules of being at home again.
• Taking Wednesday night off from eating and celebrating at home and going out instead.

Bar owners in major cities have noticed a huge increase in sales on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. Law enforcement is aware of the bump in binge drinking on this day too, setting up additional sobriety checkpoints. There are two surefire ways to avoid an arrest for drunk driving and to avoid causing a deadly car accident: don’t drink or take a cab home.

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Be Smart Every Thanksgiving Eve

Blackout Wednesday is one of the worst days of the year for drunk driving. Everyone would be wise to take extra responsibility on this holiday. Bartenders can cut people off or call them an Uber. Gatherings of people can select a designated driver (and this is the person who does not drink at all, not just the person who drinks the least). And every reveler can be responsible for themselves and the well-being of those around them by drinking responsibly, and never getting behind the wheel of a car when intoxicated.

If you are involved in a drunk driving accident in Michigan, contact personal injury attorney David Femminineo to discuss your case.