This Thanksgiving week, millions of drivers will take to the roads in order to spend time with family members around the country, and for many, these will be times of joy. However, there will inevitably be tragedies due to unsafe driving practices, almost all of which will be preventable. I’ve talked before about how to drive safely in general, but in light of the Thanksgiving holiday, it’s worth reviewing the most important tips for driving safely on Thanksgiving this week:

Slow down, buckle up, and drive sober.

Most people don’t know that Thanksgiving is actually the deadliest holiday of the year when it comes to car collisions. Two years ago in 2012, per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has a Fatality Analysis Reporting System, more than 764 fatal collisions occurred, with approximately 400 of these collisions involving motor vehicles. That same year, approximately 654 collisions led to fatalities on Christmas. If we extend our scope of analysis to non-fatal collisions, on Thanksgiving 2012, close to 50,000 collisions occurred. Many of these resulted in lifelong injuries to children who were not safely restrained in rear-facing, forward-facing, or booster seats.

That is absolutely horrific. And completely unnecessary. Why do we know this?

Per the NHTSA, more than 40% of motor vehicle passengers who died on Thanksgiving died due to collision involving drunk drivers. This is close to the year after year figure of approximately 30% of all vehicular fatalities being caused by drunk drivers. Additionally, around 60% of fatally injured passengers were unbuckled. This, again, is similar to the year over year figure of around 50% of fatally injured passengers being unbuckled. Speeding, of course, was also present as an underlying reason for needless deaths.

These are preventable reasons. No one has to die this Thanksgiving, or any Thanksgiving, from an auto collision. Drive sober. Drive the speed limit–or slower! Drive buckled up, and make sure every passenger is buckled, every time.

And have a safe Thanksgiving. If you’re thinking of Black Friday shopping, check out the Black Friday deals at Amazon. You’ll save money and be safer not driving out to beat the hordes.

If you find the information on car safety, recommended car seats, and car seat reviews on this car seat blog helpful, you can shop through this Amazon link for any purchases, car seat-related or not. Canadians can shop through this link for Canadian purchases.