Ahead of the holiday season, drivers on the country’s roads should be wary of the dangers of travel. Value Penguin analyzed data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) database and found 12,610 fatal crashes around Thanksgiving and Christmas in the U.S. from 2010 to 2019 — the most recently available data.

In the past decade, more than 6 in 10 fatal crashes during the holidays happened on or around Christmas.

Researchers tallied the number of fatal crashes dating to 2010 during five-day periods around Thanksgiving and Christmas — the two days before, the day of and the two days after. Sixty-four percent of the fatal crashes during this period took place on or around Christmas, versus 36% on or around Thanksgiving.

Value Penguin also calculated the number of deaths that involved a drunken or speeding driver during both holidays and found nearly one-third of the fatal crashes during these periods involved one or the other.

A drunken driver was involved in 30% of fatal holiday crashes, while a speeding driver was involved in 29%.

Of the 12,610 fatal crashes around Thanksgiving and Christmas from 2010 to 2019, 64% occurred during the Christmas holiday.

Yahoo News