Beware of “Black Wednesday” drivers

When you think of the days of the year when people are more likely to drive after drinking, you probably wouldn’t even consider Thanksgiving Eve in your top 10. Regardless, it is a dangerous time to be on the roads.

The night before Thanksgiving is sometimes called “Black Wednesday.” It is a night when bars and restaurants that serve alcohol typically are busiest. Here’s why.

Everyone goes home for Thanksgiving

Students are home from universities and colleges on holiday break. Young marrieds-with-children head back to their family homes for Thanksgiving dinner the next day. Relatives fly in from distant cities to break Thanksgiving bread together.

That combination of free time in familiar settings can be liberating and lead to friends and extended family members drinking together at their favorite watering holes.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with hanging out and having a few drinks with the old gang. But, inevitably, impairment occurs and sometimes good judgment then goes right out the window.

Plan for sober rides home

Thanks to ride-sharing companies like Lyft and Uber, catching a sober ride home on one of the biggest drinking nights of the year has never been easier. Planning ahead for a sober ride allows you to have fun without fearing you will harm someone in a drunk-driving collision.

You could suffer injuries — or worse

More people travel over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend than at any other time of the year. The combination of additional vehicles on the roads with more intoxicated drivers behind the wheel markedly increases your chances of getting into an accident with a drunken driver.

The scary part is that you are only as safe as the intoxicated motorist in the car beside you even when you haven’t had a drop of alcohol to drink.

It’s vital that any accident victims hold impaired drivers accountable for the highway carnage that they inflict on others. But it is not necessary for a driver to be prosecuted criminally for their negligent actions to still be able to hold them civilly liable for any injuries and other damages.

If you were injured in an auto accident with another at-fault motorist, you have the right to seek financial compensation for your losses. Filing a claim for damages is the first step of the compensation process.