If you are attending a Georgia Bulldogs game or watching any football games at a bar, friend's house, or stadium, you need to make sure you are a responsible spectator. Football games encourage high-risk behavior like binge drinking, and football fans can put themselves and others at risk of car accidents if they drink and drive.
Football fans and all other motorists on the road need to be aware of the dangers of over consuming alcoholic beverages during football games. If fans avoid drinking and other motorists on the road take steps to protect themselves, hopefully football season will not lead to a higher number of car accidents.
Are Football Fans at Greater Risk of Causing Car Accidents?
Attending a football game and drinking alcoholic beverages makes fans into high-risk drivers. ABC News reported on tailgating and binge drinking at football games. One out of 12 fans who attend games consumed enough alcohol during the tailgating pregame or during the game to become too drunk to drive.
Researches took a survey of drinkers and performed an anonymous breathalyzer test. When responding to the survey, one out of four people who were tailgating before a football game said they had consumed at least five drinks. Drinking five or more drinks in a single sitting is generally considered to be binge drinking. It also leads to a blood alcohol concentration higher than the .08 percent legal limit for drivers.
When the tailgaters actually had their BAC tested, some of those who had the highest BAC had actually consumed 6.6 drinks on average, which is significantly higher than safe amounts of alcohol.
With so many fans drinking, it is unsurprising that a report from one state's Department of Transportation found a 13-percent rise in the number of DUI arrests on days when there was a football game compared to days when no game was played. The same DOT research report showed 45 percent of spectators watching a football game consumed three or more drinks during the game.
Some fans of football games are much more likely to take part in the drinking that makes fans a danger to themselves and others on the roads. Football fans under age 35 who attended a stadium game were eight times as likely as game attendees who were older to have consumed enough alcohol to be considered legally drunk. Tailgaters who attended the game after partying in the parking lot first were 14 times as likely to be drunk as other fans attending the game.
Football fans who drink are clearly at greater risk of car accidents if they opt to get behind the wheel. However, football fans don't have to present an added risk on the roads. If you attend a game, consider either staying sober or making sure you have a designated driver lined up before you have a single sip of alcohol.
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