Nothing will put a damper on your holiday season faster than a DUI or having your license revoked.

While most people may associate December with the holidays, for the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration it means Drunk and Drugged Driving Awareness Month. Actually, the two do go hand-in-hand, as many people celebrate at holiday festivities with alcoholic drinks, and many people travel by car to visit family this time of year. Before you hit the road, know that police use this month to crack down on drunk and drugged drivers.

Drinking and Driving

Nothing will put a damper on your holiday season faster than a DUI or having your license revoked. DUI’s can be very costly, and many budgets are already stretched tight for holiday gift buying.

The insurance implications alone should be reason enough to keep you from getting behind the wheel if you’ve overindulged. On average, a single DUI can raise your car insurance rates by 72%. Not only that, a drunken driving citation can affect your premiums for several years, up to five in some states. Whether the charge is DUI, DWI or DWAI, you will often have to get an SR-22 form from an insurer to regain your driving privileges.

Here’s a sobering thought: a drunk driving charge can cost you as much as $7,000 in additional costs with your insurance. That’s on top of the potential for horrific endings involving crashes and too often, death.

Nearly one-third of all traffic related fatalities are caused by alcohol-impaired driving crashes. This means that if no one got behind the wheel while drunk, one out of three people who have died from traffic crashes could still be with us today. It is easy to read and report statistics, but to the people who have lost loved ones, these are much more than statistics. Especially around the holidays, consider other people and families before getting behind the wheel. Drinking and driving is simply not worth the risk.

Our best advice: if you drink, don’t drive. Either call Uber or grandma. We want you all around to celebrate our upcoming anniversary in 2022!