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Moncks Corner Legal Issues Blog

Attending holiday parties? Don’t drive if you drink

One of the best parts of the holidays is the parties. You might get together with neighbors, enjoy parties at work and spend time with family members you don’t get the chance to see much of during the rest of the year. Many of the festivities could include alcohol.

You may want to have a plan to deal with the fact that you may have one too many to drive safely afterward. If you don’t, you could end up under arrest. Your gift-buying money may have to go to bail instead of presents if that happens. An arrest for drunk driving would also put a damper on your and your family’s holiday spirit.

The odds are against you

Drunk driving is a substantial problem during the holidays. In fact, the number of fatal accidents involving impaired driving increases exponentially between Thanksgiving and New Year’s day. Research indicates that around 25,000 people will suffer injuries and 1,200 will die during the holiday season in alcohol-related accidents. Mothers Against Drunk Drivers estimates that over 50 percent of the fatalities that occur on Christmas day and New Year’s day involve alcohol.

What this means is that the odds are against you when it comes to drinking and driving during the holidays. Instead of taking the chance that you may face charges for DUI, or worse, kill someone, you may be better off doing one of the following:

Any inconvenience you experience by not being able to drive yourself home is nothing compared to the inconvenience of criminal charges and living with the fact that you injured or killed someone.

If a police officer stops you on suspicion of DUI

If you do make a mistake and drive home when you shouldn’t, a police officer may arrest you on suspicion of drunk driving. First, you should know that you do not have to participate in field sobriety tests, and you probably shouldn’t. You may still end up under arrest and facing charges for DUI, but at least you did not give the police officer any further ammunition against you.

Before you take any further action regarding the situation, it would probably be a good idea to enlist the help of the legal resources available to you here in Moncks Corner.