Blackout Wednesday: US braces for Thanksgiving Eve the ‘biggest drinking day of year’

In some areas, tonight will outstrip New Year’s Eve when it comes to boozing despite it being a midweek evening – and there are fears of carnage.

Police, hospitals and just about everyone in between are bracing themselves for what is sometimes dubbed the drunkest, and most dangerous, day of the year in the US tonight

In a nod to Black Friday, the mega shopping sales event which is held this Friday, it’s known as “Blackout Wednesday”.

And it has increasingly become a mess. Between 2017 and 2021, 137 alcohol impaired people died on US roads on Blackout Wednesday evening between just 6pm and 6am.

But why is a midweek evening in November so dangerous? Because it’s the day before Thanksgiving, a nationwide public holiday. Indeed, an alternative name for Blackout Wednesday is “Drinksgiving”.

Lovecraft in New York’s East Village. It could be the biggest drinking night of the year for some bars on Thanksgiving Eve. Photo: David Marcelis/The Wall Street Journal

With Americans getting fewer annual leave days than Australians, many take the Friday after Thanksgiving Thursday off to give themselves a rare four day weekend.

University students are on a break too.

US airports are expected to screen 5.3 million passengers on the two days prior to Thanksgiving.

For bars and bottle shops, the day is a bonanza as towns swell with people heading home.

“It’s always a big day where everyone likes to go out and have fun with their family members,” Nathan Hendricks from the Jefferson Spirits liquor store in Medford, south of Portland, in Oregon, reported KDRV.

In some parts of the US, it’s been called “the biggest drinking day of the year,” even outstripping New Year’s Eve.

Authorities have said that a combination of a very long weekend, people excited to be travelling to festivities and family, and homes full to the brim with celebratory booze equals an alcohol fuelled frenzy.

“During the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, from 2017-2021, over 830 people died in crashes involving a drunk driver,” a statement from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said.

The NHTSA said this week that young drivers aged 21-24 represented the 44 per cent of alcohol-impaired drivers involved in fatal crashes on Thanksgiving Eve.

The chance of encountering a drink driver is also 55 per cent higher than normal during thanksgiving.

Another reason Blackout Wednesday is so dangerous is the sheer amount of traffic on the roads.

With Americans wrapping up work on the Wednesday and some driving long distances to see family, there’s more chance of finding yourself on the same piece of asphalt as someone several shots down.

Booze buses can be less numerous in the US. Picture: Alan Barber

Booze buses lacking

In Australia, widespread booze buses are set up during and before major holidays to discourage drink driving.

Called sobriety checkpoints in the US, these have a checkered legal history. Numerous court case have been fought about whether pulling over a motorist randomly, without them giving any indication they might be drunk, is legal.

The Supreme Court has deemed the checkpoints to be legal and not infringe on an individual’s constitutional rights.

But 10 states have said such checks would go against their own constitutions – so have outlawed them anyway. Among these are some of the biggest including Texas, Michigan and Iowa where you can only be pulled over if there is a real suspicion the driver is inebriated.

Even in those states where booze buses are allowed there use can be infrequent.

Texas has banned booze buses. Picture: Alamy.

Police are pleading with Americans to either take it easy, have a designated driver or use cabs or similar to get home.

Some areas are getting inventive to stop the carnage.

In Maryland, between Washington DC and Philadelphia, free ride credits are being given out to ride share apps, reported the BBC. While in smaller towns police have been said they will give inebriated locals are ride home.

The aim is to ensure the worst injury on Thanksgiving Day, as families gather around for the traditional turkey, will be a sore and hungover head.

SOURCE: NEWS.COM.AU