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| [PHOTO: David Shankbone / CC BY 3.0] |
Denver: New data on repeat, high-risk drunk drivers ordered to be
monitored continuously for drinking shows that violations increase an average
of 54% on Thanksgiving Day. The holiday, now considered one of the deadliest
for alcohol-related fatalities by the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, is second only to New Year's Eve/Day, when violations jump 62%.
The numbers are consistent with data from a number of
organizations, including the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism, which estimates that two to three times more people die as a result
of alcohol-involved crashes during the holidays than any other time during the
year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that 1,200 people
will be killed and 25,000 will be injured between Thanksgiving and New Year's
Day in traffic accidents caused by alcohol.
The data was compiled by Alcohol Monitoring Systems (AMS),
which has monitored more than 258,000 Hardcore Drunk Drivers for compliance
with court-mandated sobriety. The company has launched their annual public
awareness campaign, Sober Days for the Holidays, to educate courts and
communities about the increased risks their data trending shows. "Those
drinking violations are for offenders who know they are being tested, who know
they will be caught and who know there will be consequences, possibly even jail
time," says Mike Iiams, chairman and CEO of AMS. "Now imagine what
offenders who aren't monitored are doing."
AMS reports that the trend each year is for courts to
increase supervision during the holidays by enforcing Sober Days, which are
defined as a 24-hour period where continuous testing confirms no drinking and
no attempt to circumvent testing. Company data shows that the average number of
offenders monitored daily jumps during the holidays, as courts and agencies
work to contain the risks that alcohol and the holidays pose to communities.
The AMS technology is known as SCRAMx, and it tests an
offender's perspiration 48 times a day to measure for drinking. The testing
frequency is what allows courts to confirm Sober Days for the highest-risk
offenders.
According to The Century Council, 75% of Hardcore Drunk
Drivers are assessed as alcohol-dependent and cause 57% of fatal accidents
related to alcohol. "Holidays mean family stress, work stress, financial
stress—and they all hit simultaneously," says Iiams. "Add an endless
list of social temptations, and someone with a drinking problem, who naturally
turns to alcohol to cope with stress, is going to struggle this time of
year."
As per Iiams, in 2011, courts in 48 states supervised
598,077 Sober Days for Hardcore Drunk Drivers between Thanksgiving and New
Year's Day. The Century Council defines a Hardcore Drunk Drivers as those who
drive at high BACs (0.15 or above), do so repeatedly as demonstrated by having
more than one drunk driving arrest, and are highly resistant to changing their
behavior despite previous sanctions, treatment, or education. Iiams says that
even with the jump in drinking violations, which averages 24% over the entire
41 day holiday season, in 2011, on average 99.37% of the drunk drivers they
monitored were completely sober on any given day. "That means testing
confirmed that 99.37% of those high-risk offenders were not drinking, and they
were not drinking and driving," he says.