Holiday season sees spike in impaired driving-alcohol isn’t the only culprit, expert says

Medical Xpress
By Chelsea Seeber, Virginia Tech
edited by Lisa Lock, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

December is one of the deadliest months for impaired driving; and according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2022, December drunken driving rates were at their highest in 15 years.

Miguel Perez, head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics at Virginia Tech, said that despite efforts to reduce impaired driving, it is “still very much a problem.” And now, the problem extends beyond just alcohol.

“Impaired crashes are increasingly being tied to cannabis and other drugs, which is important because our policing and detection approaches are limited for non-alcohol impairment,” Perez said. “We must rethink how we detect, prevent, and respond to impaired driving.”

The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute researcher said the holiday season is a “perfect storm” for impaired driving. With holiday parties and gatherings, people have more opportunities to drink or use other recreational drugs, and events often go into late hours of the night.

“When you throw in the recent change to standard time, that means that you combine the influence of these substances with potential drowsiness and fatigue and poor visibility on top of that,” he said.

Perez said while new technologies show promise in preventing impaired driving, none are foolproof.

“In-vehicle sensors have come a long way, and many will alert drivers if they detect their performance is not up to par. But it still leaves it up to the driver to decide, even when they may not be capable of making good decisions. And more advanced driving systems can be helpful in compensating for poor driver control, but those technologies are usually present only in newer vehicles.”

Overall, Perez said better education and preemptive enforcement continue to be effective tools to prevent impaired driving.

“The target for prevention is always shifting,” he said. “One approach is to prevent the behavior of overindulging altogether, and the other approach is to have individuals who choose to overindulge make the right choices for alternative transportation with a limited amount of inconvenience. Communities that combine education, alternative-transport options, data-based intervention, and vehicle technology are best positioned to make the safe choice the easy choice.”

Provided by Virginia Tech