Memorial Day Alert: Don’t Drive at 8pm in Florida
Memorial Day: Florida Drivers Warned to Avoid 8 PM Trips
• In Florida, 8 PM is the most dangerous time to drive on Memorial Day, while a 2 and 3 PM return is advisable.
• 2,077 fatal crashes happened on Memorial Day between 2019 and 2023, in the US, 181 of which occurred in Florida.
• Since holidays can increase drug consumption, there is a bigger risk of dying in a crash where the driver was high compared to other seasons across half the US states.
The deadliest time to drive on Memorial Day in Florida is 8.00-8.59 PM when there were 16 fatal crashes between 2019 and 2023. The safest is at 7.00-7.59 AM, when one such accident happened in the span of five years since 2019. Overall, there were 181 fatal crashes on Memorial Day in California during the same period.
Texas personal injury lawyers The Texas Law Dog analyzed all fatal crashes that happened specifically on Memorial Day between 2019 and 2023. They used the Fatality and Injury Reporting System Tool (FIRST) from The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to find the time intervals when most fatal crashes occur in Memorial Day in each US state.
They also analyzed the latest drug-related collision data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) for springtime over the same five years to identify where driving while high at this time of the year happens the most, relative to each state’s population.
Generally, across America, driving between 9 and 10 PM is most dangerous, when 185 have lost their lives between 2019 and 2023. Waiting another two hours to leave at 11 PM is less dangerous than leaving at 7 or 8 PM. To still enjoy a day out with the family, heading back home at 3 PM is when there are the fewest fatal crashes later in the day.
As for when you might set out in the first place, 8 AM is the safest time to travel. If you are an early bird and want to move your day trip so you can get back home early too, then 6 AM sharp is when you should leave the house. This is the time with the second fewest fatal crashes.
“We hope this helps families stay safe this Memorial Day and avoid driving when it has previously proven most dangerous,” said a spokesperson for The Texas Law Dog.
“There is also an overlap with end-of-year college celebrations, which exacerbate the statistics, making this time of the year especially dangerous to be driving in half the states.”
“Family-oriented holidays like Memorial Day can weigh heavily on someone’s mental health faced with strained relationships, which may lead to higher drug consumption than usual,” said a spokesperson for The Texas Law Dog.
America saw 1,220 deadly crashes every spring between 2019 and 2023, on average, linked to drivers under the influence of drugs. In 25 states, this is higher than the seasonal average throughout the year.
Among larger states with populations above four million, drug consumption and driving appear especially rife in the spring in Illinois, Florida and Louisiana. On the contrary, this happens the least often in Massachusetts (16.67%), Georgia (17.88%), and Mississippi (19.58%).
Sources: The Texas Law Dog via The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
