Whether you're driving home for Christmas or going out on the town for New Year's Eve, buckle up and make sure your driver is sober. A national safety group estimates that 278 people could be killed on U.S. roads during the holidays.
The National Safety Council, an Itasca, Ill.-based advocacy group, estimates that 115 people may be killed and 13,100 seriously injured on roadways between 6 p.m. on Dec. 24, and 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 25.
The group also estimates that beginning at 5 p.m. Dec. 31, and ending at 11:59 p.m. Jan. 1, 163 people could be killed and 18,600 seriously injured.
About 37% of roadway fatalities over Christmas and 39% over New Year's are alcohol-related, while the average over the course of a year is 29%, according to Ken Kolosh, the council's manager of statistics.
"Because there is a lot of alcohol consumed on all holidays, we do see an increase in the fatalities that involve at least one drunk driver," Kolosh said.
He noted, however, that the percentage of alcohol-related deaths has decreased. For the 2014 New Year's holiday, for example, more than half of roadway fatalities involved a drunk driver, he said.
In predicting holiday road fatalities, the council looks at data from past years, individual state fatal crash estimates and the calendar. This year, both Christmas and New Year's Day fall in the middle of the week, which means fewer crashes, since the holiday is not prolonged by being on or adjacent to a weekend day, Kolosh explained.
Kolosh said 90% of drivers and passengers wear seat belts.
The warnings come as the AAA motor club estimates that more Americans than ever _ 115.6 million _ will travel between Sunday and Jan. 1, the most since AAA began tracking holiday travel in 2000 and a 3.9% increase over last year.
Nearly 105 million U.S. holiday travelers will be going by car, the most dangerous form of transportation. The council said driving has the highest death rate based on fatalities per passenger mile.
