It’s that time of year again: football playoff time! Are you cheering for Miami or the Hoosiers in the College FBS National Championship, or you’re excited for the NFL playoffs? There are a lot of important games coming up! Big football games are a time to gather with friends, and that often includes eating and drinking for many hours at a time. (On Wildcard Weekend? Today there were 11 hours straight of playoff games!) When you drink over long periods of time, it’s hard to know how impaired you are from the alcohol. So, we often see an increase in the incidence of driving under the influence after big football games.
Link between Big Sporting Events and Drinking
There have been published research studies that have investigated the link between attending sporting events and drinking. A study by Erickson et al. (2011) found that 40% of adults leaving professional sporting events had alcohol in their system, and 1 in 12 were drunk. Those who tailgated before the game had a 14x likelihood of a BAC over .08 after the end of the game.
Increased Fatal Accidents after the Big Game
A study by Redelmeier and Stewart (2003) looked at drinking after the Super Bowl over a 27 year period. They found that there was a 41% increase in auto fatalities after the end of the game, compared to other Sundays. They also showed some evidence for the increase in fatalities being higher in states where the team lost than those with a winning team. Colorado was one of the two states with the most losses during the study time, with a 147% increase in fatalities after the games in the years with the losses. The 41% increase overall is higher than the well-established increase in auto fatalities on New Years Eve. (Most estimates of the increase on New Years are from 12% to 35%.) A study by the Auto Club of Southern California (2015) showed a 77% increase in alcohol-related crashes that caused injury or death after the Super Bowl.
Increased DUI arrests after Football Games
Similarly, there is evidence of increased numbers of DUI arrests after big football games. As you might imagine, there are a few factors that contribute to this. As described above, there are long periods of time that people drink, sometimes including tailgating before the game. During that time, people drink more than normal, also. Additionally, many areas have increased DUI enforcement after big games, so there are more officers out looking for drunk drivers, leading to an increase in arrests. Our firm has noticed, in particular, a significant number of arrests after CU Buffs football games this last fall.
Football playoff time can be one of the most fun times of the year! Go out and have fun watching the games with your friends, but be sure to plan ahead and have a safe ride home. If you have questions about a DUI arrest, please give Kevin Churchill at Churchill DUI Defense, 303-832-9000.
And, Go Broncos!