Thanksgiving weekend: deadliest weekend in U.S. claims an average 328 vehicle-related deaths per year

Thanksgiving weekend is well known for being a time to be with family, stuff our faces with food and add a couple of extra notches to the belt. What you might not know is that Thanksgiving weekend is also the most dangerous weekend of the year to be behind the wheel, with an average of 328 deaths annually according to finder.com.

Finder.com analyzed National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data collected between 2011 and 2017 and found that not only is Thanksgiving the deadliest weekend on the roads but that driving fatalities peaked in 2017 with a total of 381 deaths.

Thanksgiving leads ahead of Fourth of July which is the second deadliest weekend to be on the road each year with an average of 318 deaths. Thanksgiving is also slightly ahead of Memorial Day weekend, which averages 305 deaths.

What cities are the deadliest for driving on Thanksgiving Day weekend? (2017)

Napa (CA) and Newcastle (UT) tie for the most dangerous city to drive during the Thanksgiving long weekend with four fatalities. They were closely followed by ten other cities, all with three deaths.

Rank	City	State	Number of deaths
1	Napa	California	4
1	Newcastle	Utah	4
2	Phoenix	Arizona	3
2	Jacksonville	Florida	3
2	Miami	Florida	3
2	Lawrenceville	Georgia	3
2	Chicago	Illinois	3
2	Sabetha	Kansas	3
2	Rudolph	Ohio	3
2	Thurman	Ohio	3
2	Houston	Texas	3
2	Pecos	Texas	3

What states are the deadliest for Thanksgiving Day weekend? (2017)

Not surprisingly, after claiming the top spot of the top twelve deadliest cities to drive during the Thanksgiving weekend, California and Texas also come out atop the most dangerous states, with 51 and 42 roads deaths respectively.

Rank	State	Number of deaths
1	California	51
2	Texas	42
3	Florida	34
4	North Carolina	20
5	Ohio	18

What is the city with the greatest number of drunk-driving deaths? (2017)

Overindulging in food is synonymous with Thanksgiving but so is drinking. One of the consequences of this is that 26% of all Thanksgiving road fatalities are attributable to drunk drivers. Of all of the drunk driving fatalities in 2017, Talladega, Alabama; Croton, Michigan; Charleston, South Carolina; and Odessa, Texas claim the number one spot with two deaths due to drunk driving.

Rank	City	State	Number of drunk-driving deaths
1	Talladega	Alabama	2
1	Croton	Michigan	2
1	Charleston	South Carolina	2
1	Odessa	Texas	2

Which state has the greatest number of drunk driving deaths? (2017)

In regards to drunk driving, California and Texas topped the list with 12 deaths road fatalities each attributed to drunk drivers in 2016. This is also 24% of Thanksgiving drunk driving deaths for the year. Two other southern states rounded out the top six, with six drunk driving deaths in South Carolina and 5 drunk driving deaths in Alabama.

Rank	State	Number of drunk-driving deaths
1	California	12
1	Texas	12
2	South Carolina	6
3	Alabama	5
3	Illinois	5
3	Ohio	5

What time of day is the deadliest to drive in on Thanksgiving weekend? (2017)

If you are going to drive over Thanksgiving weekend, you might want to do so earlier in the day. Only 20% of fatal accidents occur between the hours of 5 A.M. and 12 P.M. versus driving at night (8 P.M. and 4 A.M.) and afternoon/evening (1 P.M and 7 P.M), which accounts for 40% of road deaths each.

Time of day	Deaths	% of total deaths
Morning	75	20%
Afternoon/Evening	153	40%
Night	153	40%

How many of these deaths are alcohol-related? (2017)

Probably not surprisingly, 58% of all drunk-driving deaths occur at night. Drunk-driving deaths are six times as likely to occur between the hours of 8 P.M. to 4 A.M. as they are in the morning

Time of day	Drunk-driving deaths	% of total deaths
Morning	11	11%
Afternoon/Evening	31	31%
Night	57	58%