DUI jumps 54 percent on Thanksgiving

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DENVER, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Thanksgiving is the second deadliest holiday after New Year's for alcohol-related fatalities, alcohol experts say.

Alcohol Monitoring Systems, which monitors more than 258,000 hardcore drunk drivers for compliance with court-mandated sobriety, said violations involving repeat, high-risk, convicted drunken drivers ordered to be monitored continuously for drinking increase an average of 54 percent on Thanksgiving Day.

The AMS technology, known as SCRAMx, tests an offender's perspiration 48 times a day to measure for alcohol consumption. Company data show the average number of offenders monitored daily jumps during the holidays.

"Those drinking violations are for offenders who know they are being tested, who know they will be caught and who know there will be consequences, possibly even jail time," Mike Iiams, chairman and chief executive officer of AMS. "Now imagine what offenders who aren't monitored are doing."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts 1,200 people will be killed and 25,000 will be injured between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day in traffic accidents caused by alcohol, Iiams said.

"Holidays mean family stress, work stress, financial stress -- and they all hit simultaneously," Iiams added. "Add an endless list of social temptations, and someone with a drinking problem, who naturally turns to alcohol to cope with stress, is going to struggle this time of year."