Learn exactly when you face the greatest danger from drunk drivers

Staunchly refusing to drive while intoxicated can help to keep you safe, but it’s really only half of the story. You can be sober and still get hit by another drunk driver. Many of the thousands of people who lose their lives or suffer catastrophic injuries in alcohol-related crashes every year are actually sober. It’s the other driver who was drunk.

You cannot change what mistakes other people choose to make, of course, but you can do all within your power to avoid these dangerous drivers. You need to know exactly when your odds of being involved in such a crash are highest.

It all starts with the weekend

As you may have guessed, the weekend is the biggest single period of drunk driving, with about 31% of fatal crashes happening on the weekend. While that’s not a stark majority, the rest are spread out over a much longer work week, so there is still a spike on the weekend. In particular, Saturday carries an exceptional risk, especially when you remember that many people who get into accidents on Saturday morning actually went out on Friday evening. Those are still “Saturday” accidents.

Night hours also increase the risks

As far as time is concerned, the most drunk drivers take to the streets from midnight to a.m. On top of that, deadly crashes happened four times as much during the night as they do during the day. Again, a lot of drinking happens in the evening and late at night, and these drinking habits tend to produce accidents late at night or early the next morning.

If you can, then, stay home on the weekends. Avoid drinking after dark. Especially avoid still being on the road as one evening switches over to the following morning. If you do that, you drastically lower the odds of getting involved in a crash.

You still need to know your rights

Lowering the odds does not mean eliminating them completely, though. If you do get injured or lose a loved one in an accident, you need to know all of your rights.