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News Year’s Day, one of the most dangerous days of the year to drive, is just around the corner.

“The risk of dying in an alcohol-related crash increases during the New Year’s holiday, which should hardly be a surprise,” says the New York Times, “but a new analysis released on Tuesday by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that the average number of deaths from alcohol-related crashes on New Year’s Day is almost 150 percent higher than the average for the same day of the week during the holiday season.”

The Jacksonville Daily News explains that AAA’s “estimates are based on data collected in the third annual Traffic Safety study, a nationally representative telephone survey of 2,000 U.S. residents age 16 and older conducted May 11 through June 7.”

AAA says “an average of 80 people a year are killed in alcohol-related crashes on New Year ’s Day—almost two and a half times as many as on the same day of the week in other weeks around New Year’s.” For example, in 2009, 73 people died in alcohol related crashes on New Year’s Day. In 2005, that number was much higher because New Years was on a Saturday. Ninety-eight people died in alcohol-related crashes.

Americans frown on drunk driving, but many do it anyway. AAA explains: “Drinking and driving is viewed as a very serious threat by 87 percent of drivers and the related social disapproval is almost universal. However, new data recently released by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that one in ten drivers reported having driven when they thought that their alcohol level might have been close to or possibly over the legal limit within the past 12 months, and just over half of those (5.5 percent of all drivers) reported having done this more than once within the past 12 months.”

It’s easy to avoid driving drunk. If you know you have to drive, have one drink early in the night or don’t drink at all. You can also carpool with friends and family, or take a taxi to and from the event if you know you want to toast before and after midnight. Don’t be afraid to leave your car at a friend’s house and ask someone to drive you home. It may be an inconvenience, but you could save your life and someone else’s.

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