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Stay Safe And Happy This Holiday Season: Health and Safety Tips from Westchester Medical Center
The holiday season is traditionally a joyous time of year. Sadly, this time is often marred by unnecessary and preventable tragedies. Alcohol related fatalities claim the lives of nearly 17,000 Americans and injure over 600,000 more each year. The holiday season, the time between Thanksgiving and New Year's, is usually a time for fun and celebration but, unfortunately, it can also be a time of tragedy. More fatal alcohol related crashes occur during this period than any other time during the year.
In the U.S. someone dies in an alcohol-related traffic crash every 30 minutes and 3 out of every 10 Americans face the possibility of being directly involved in an alcohol-related traffic crash during their lifetime.
Experts agree that you should not underestimate the effects of alcohol. Don't believe you can beat them or that you can pace yourself or rely on some urban legend for sobering up. One of these myths about drinking and driving is that serving coffee helps people become sober. It will not. Only time can reduce the effects that alcohol has on the body.
"Because individuals are so different, it is difficult to give specific advice about drinking to any one individual, said Dr. Jay Yelon, Chief of Trauma and Surgical Care at Westchester Medical Center. "However certain facts are clear- there's no way to speed up the brain's recovery from alcohol and no way to make good decisions when you have had too much to drink in a short period of time. On an evening like New Year's Eve or any other evening, for that matter, rapid consumption of large amounts of alcohol is especially dangerous and often has deadly results. The best advice is that if you have consumed alcohol, don't drive!"
No one intends to harm anyone when they get behind the wheel after a party. Yet traffic fatalities persist and myths about drinking live on- even though scientific studies have documented how alcohol affects the brain and body. "The best thing you can do this holiday season is to make plans to get home safely, before you arrive at the party. Be aware of how much you've consumed throughout the night, think about the consequences of an arrest or a potentially fatal traffic crash, and pick a non-drinker as a designated driver," added Dr. Yelon.
Sobering statistics:
-This year nearly 17,000 Americans will lose their lives in alcohol related crashes.
-Additionally, nearly 600,000 Americans will be injured in alcohol-related traffic crashes this year.
-Annually, over 39% of all traffic fatalities involve alcohol.
-21-34 year-old drivers are responsible for nearly 60% of all alcohol-related traffic crashes.
-In 2005 (the last year for which this data is available), by the time our country finished ringing in the year, 135 people had died in alcohol-related traffic crashes in the 12-hour span between 6pm on New Year's Eve and 5:59am the next morning*.
-National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics
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