6 Common Reasons People Have Wrecks During the Holidays

The holiday season is a strange paradox. On one hand, it is the season of joy, connection, and slowing down to be with the people we love. On the other hand, it is the season of absolute, unbridled chaos. Our calendars are overstuffed, our bank accounts are strained, and our patience is often running on fumes. Nowhere is this stress more visible—and more dangerous—than on the highway.

Statistically, the period between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day is one of the most perilous times to be on the road. The volume of traffic skyrockets, the weather turns against us, and the collective attention span of the average driver drops to near zero. It creates a perfect storm for collisions.

While we can’t control the traffic, we can control how we navigate it. Understanding why these accidents happen is the first step toward avoiding them. However, sometimes you can do everything right and still end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. If you find yourself involved in a collision this season, knowing who to call is vital. Consulting with a personal injury attorney immediately after an accident can help protect your rights and ensure that a wrecked bumper doesn't turn into a financial disaster.

If you are gearing up for a road trip to Grandma’s house or just braving the mall parking lot, here is a look at the specific factors that turn the holidays into high season for auto accidents.

1. Time Pressure

The single biggest contributor to holiday accidents isn't snow or ice; it’s the clock.

During the holidays, everyone is running late. We are rushing to the store before it closes. We are trying to beat the traffic out of the city. We are racing to make it to a dinner reservation. This creates a psychological state known as time urgency.

When drivers are under time pressure, their decision-making skills degrade.

• Risk Thresholds Drop: A driver who would normally wait for a safe gap in traffic will suddenly take a risky left turn because they are in a rush.

• Speeding Increases: We try to make up time on the highway, reducing our reaction window.

• Yellow Lights: The yellow light stops being a warning and starts being a challenge.

This frantic energy is contagious. When one person is weaving through traffic, it puts everyone else on edge, leading to reactive, jerky driving that causes pile-ups.

2. Impaired Driving

It’s an uncomfortable truth, but the holidays are fueled by alcohol. Between office parties, family reunions, and New Year's Eve bashes, the opportunities to drink increase dramatically.

The issue isn't always the person who is stumbling drunk. It’s the buzzed driver. It’s the person who had two glasses of wine at the company mixer and thinks they are fine to drive five miles home. Even a small amount of alcohol slows reaction times and impairs depth perception.

Furthermore, the night before Thanksgiving has become one of the biggest drinking nights of the year, rivaling St. Patrick’s Day. The increased presence of impaired drivers on the road during these specific windows makes nighttime driving exceptionally hazardous.

3. The Dashboard Dining and Digital Distraction

Distracted driving is a year-round plague, but the holidays introduce new, specific distractions inside the car.

• The GPS Struggle: Many of us are driving to unfamiliar locations—visiting relatives we haven't seen in a year or trying to find a new pop-up shop. We are staring at our phones, listening for turn-by-turn directions, and looking at street signs, rather than watching the road.

• The Mobile Office: People are trying to wrap up work before the end of the year, taking calls and answering emails from the driver's seat.

• The Chaos in the Backseat: If you are traveling with kids, the car is likely filled with new toys, excitement, and sugar-fueled arguments. A driver turning around to break up a fight between siblings takes their eyes off the road for three seconds—at 60 mph, that’s the length of a football field traveled blind.

4. Parking Lot Accidents

We tend to focus on high-speed highway wrecks, but a massive percentage of holiday claims happen at 5 mph.

Parking lots in December are a lawless zone. You have pedestrians walking distractedly with armfuls of bags. You have drivers fighting over the prime spots near the door. You have giant SUVs trying to squeeze into compact spaces.

Visibility is often poor due to piles of snow or large delivery trucks blocking sightlines. The result is a constant stream of fender benders, backing-up collisions, and car-vs-pedestrian incidents. While these wrecks are rarely fatal, they cause significant property damage, whiplash injuries, and a massive amount of insurance headaches.

5. Drowsy Driving

The holidays are exhausting. We are staying up late to wrap gifts, waking up early to cook, and driving long distances to see family. Drowsy driving is just as dangerous as drunk driving. Being awake for 18 hours straight affects your driving ability similarly to having a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.05%.

The danger is highest on the return trip. After a huge holiday meal (loaded with tryptophan from the turkey and carbs from the pie), drivers get behind the wheel for a four-hour drive home in a warm car. The body’s natural desire to sleep takes over, leading to "micro-sleeps"—seconds of unconsciousness that can cause a driver to drift into oncoming traffic or off the road.

6. The Tourist Effect on Local Roads

Finally, consider the road infrastructure itself. During the holidays, the roads are filled with people who don't know where they are going. In your own town, you know which lane ends suddenly. You know where the potholes are. You know how the traffic light timing works.

Out-of-town visitors do not. They make sudden, erratic lane changes to catch an exit. They slow down unexpectedly to read signs. They turn the wrong way down one-way streets. This unpredictability disrupts the flow of traffic and forces the locals to drive defensively. When you combine lost drivers with slick, icy roads, the margin for error disappears.

The holidays should be memorable for the right reasons. This year, give yourself the gift of time. Leave twenty minutes early. Put the phone in the glovebox. Accept that the traffic will be bad, and refuse to let it ruin your mood. The most important thing you can bring to the holiday dinner is yourself, safe and sound.