Arizona Steps Up Thanksgiving DUI Enforcement. What Do the Crash Statistics Say?

ARIZONA — Around Thanksgiving, Arizona law enforcement agencies announce extra DUI patrols, coordinated enforcement and overtime shifts. The Governor's Office of Highway Safety helps support holiday enforcement through traffic-safety grants. But is Thanksgiving itself associated with more alcohol-related fatal crashes than the days and hours of a typical week?

Not in AZDUI.org's six-year comparison. The finding comes from AZDUI.org's full study comparing Thanksgiving with five other major holidays, including charts, source data and methodology. Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) reports recorded 20 alcohol-related fatal crashes during Thanksgiving holiday reporting windows from 2019 through 2024. AZDUI.org's model estimated 21.5 crashes for the same days and hours based on the state's historical crash-timing patterns. The observed total was 7% below the modeled expectation.

The comparison accounts for the number of hours in each holiday period and the days of the week they encompass. That matters because Thanksgiving includes Friday and Saturday nights, when alcohol-related crashes are already more common. AZDUI.org's day-of-week analysis shows how heavily crashes concentrate on weekends, while its time-of-day study documents the evening and overnight pattern. The finding describes a small difference in a relatively small sample; it does not prove that Thanksgiving driving is safer or measure the effects of additional police enforcement.

Observed fatal crashes20

Modeled expected crashes21.5

Observed vs. expected−7%

National research reaches a similar comparison

The National Safety Council reports that Thanksgiving weekends nationwide averaged 477 traffic deaths over its six-year comparison, versus 493 during comparable surrounding weekends—about 3% fewer. The NSC says this difference was not statistically significant. Its analysis covers all traffic deaths nationwide, whereas the AZDUI.org comparison concerns alcohol-related fatal crashes in Arizona; the measures are not interchangeable.

What about extra DUI enforcement?

Additional holiday enforcement is a real investment. Arizona Public Media reported in January 2026 that the Governor's Office of Highway Safety had distributed roughly $12 million annually in traffic-safety grants over recent years. Those grants support a range of road-safety work, not just Thanksgiving DUI patrols; many holiday enforcement shifts are grant-funded, including overtime.

Extra patrols may help prevent crashes by removing impaired drivers from the road or discouraging impaired driving. Neither the ADOT holiday counts nor AZDUI.org's timing model measures how many crashes those patrols prevented. The findings provide context for the annual warnings, not a verdict on whether enforcement is worthwhile.

Read the research and source data

AZDUI.org's full holiday comparison shows observed and modeled counts for six major holidays, explains the weekday-and-hour adjustment and provides downloadable tables. Its primary inputs are ADOT's Arizona Motor Vehicle Crash Facts annual reports for 2019–2024 (holiday crash statistics, Table 1-9, and alcohol-related crash timing, Table 6-14). Links to each annual report and the reproducible calculation code appear on the research page.

Data note: This is an exploratory comparison of alcohol-related fatal crashes, not the number of people killed, DUI arrests, or all crashes. The expected count comes from a model based on historical crash timing, not a traffic-volume-adjusted risk estimate. The analysis does not establish statistical significance or causation.

About AZDUI.org: AZDUI.org is an independent Arizona DUI information and research resource covering impaired driving, crash statistics, state law and legal resources. It is not affiliated with the State of Arizona or any government agency.