New Year’s Eve brings resolutions, relationships, family gatherings, and parties. People travel near and far to celebrate, whether it’s to Time Square or to a family member’s house. The celebration of the new year is fun and exciting, but also dangerous.

Danger comes in many forms for the celebration of the new year. Drunk driving is the biggest concern because every half hour, a person is killed due to drunk driving according to drinkinganddriving. It’s almost expected to be drink alcoholic beverages on New Year’s as a form of celebration. With many people drinking, driving home with alcohol still in your system is dangerous to the driver, passengers, and other civilians on the roads. New Year’s Eve is the second biggest holiday for drunk driving accidents next to Thanksgiving according to dui.lifetips.

Not only is drunk driving a huge factor to New Year’s Eve being a dangerous holiday, but underage drinking is also a huge factor. Underage drinking leads not only to stupidity, but also to damage of the frontal lobe in the brain which isn’t fully developed until an individual is 21 years of age. When alcohol enters the body, it affects many vital organs including the liver, brain, stomach, and blood. Increased use can lead to dangerous diseases and even death after excessive use.

New Year’s Eve also brought danger this year in Wisconsin because of the extreme cold and the temperatures of days following the holiday. Around the country, there were 20 confirmed deaths due to cold temperatures in a span of four days. With alcohol in someone’s system, good judgment is almost non-existent, which is dangerous because a lack of judgment leads to accidents and fatalities.

Alcohol doesn’t need to be involved on New Year’s Eve in order to celebrate the holiday and have fun at the same time. People of all ages can watch movies with their friends and family, play games, or go out to dinner. Sober activities are the best kinds of activities because you will remember it in the morning, you won’t embarrass yourself, and most importantly, you will stay as safe as you can.