Road Safety

Thanksgiving Eve Is the Deadliest Night of the Holiday. Here’s When to Travel Instead.

4 min read

A car on a wet, leaf-covered road through autumn woods at dusk

Millions of Americans hit the road for Thanksgiving every year. To see when that travel turns deadly, LawyerUp analyzed every fatal crash in the U.S. from 2019 through 2024, using federal data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The most dangerous stretch of the holiday isn’t the drive home. It’s the night before Thanksgiving.

Key findings

  • Traffic deaths jump 52% on Thanksgiving Eve. From 6 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thanksgiving morning, 443 people died over six years, compared with about 292 on a typical Wednesday night.
  • It happened every single year. In all six years we studied, Thanksgiving Eve was deadlier than a normal Wednesday night.
  • The safest time to travel is the morning. From 6 to 9 a.m., the holiday saw fewer deaths than in any other three-hour window.
  • The return weekend is actually safer than normal. Friday through Sunday all saw fewer deaths than an ordinary late-fall weekend.

Thanksgiving Eve: the deadliest night of the holiday

The night before Thanksgiving is one of the biggest nights of the year for going out. People are home from college, reconnecting with old friends, and starting a long weekend.

The crash data shows the toll. From 6 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thanksgiving morning, traffic deaths ran 52% higher than on a typical Wednesday night in the same season.

And it wasn’t a fluke: Thanksgiving Eve was deadlier every single year from 2019 through 2024. Our analysis can’t show how many of these crashes involved alcohol, but the spike lines up with one of the busiest nights out of the year.

Bar chart comparing U.S. traffic deaths on Thanksgiving Eve against a typical Wednesday night, 2019 to 2024. The holiday is higher every year.
Source: LawyerUp analysis of NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System data, 2019–2024. Typical = average of other Wednesday nights, Nov. 1–Dec. 15, same year.

When and how to travel safely

If you’re driving for the holiday, the data points to safer choices:

  • Go in the morning. Across the five-day holiday period, 6 to 9 a.m. had the fewest deaths of any three-hour window: 254 over six years, compared with 668 between 6 and 9 p.m.
  • Don’t dread the drive home. Friday through Sunday each saw 10% to 18% fewer deaths than an ordinary weekend in late fall.
  • Avoid Thanksgiving Eve night. If you’re leaving Wednesday, aim to arrive before dark, or travel on Tuesday. Sunset comes early in late November, so check your headlights and slow down after dark. See our guide to driving safely after the clocks change.
  • Never drive impaired. If you’re going out on Thanksgiving Eve, plan a sober ride before the night starts, not after.
  • Rest before a long drive, especially after a big meal.
  • Put the phone away, and let a passenger handle navigation and texts.

If you’re in a crash during the holiday

Call 911, get medical care even if you feel fine, and take photos of the scene. Some injuries don’t show up for days, so watch for delayed symptoms after a car accident.

If the other driver had no insurance, our guide to uninsured motorist coverage explains your options. If they were drinking, hit by a drunk driver covers how the criminal case and your own claim run separately.

If you were hurt, a personal injury attorney can help you understand your rights, and most offer free consultations. Find a car accident lawyer near you on LawyerUp.

This article is for general information only and is not legal advice.

Methodology

LawyerUp analyzed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), a census of every fatal motor vehicle crash on U.S. public roads, for 2019 through 2024.

  • Holiday travel period: the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through the Sunday after, by the calendar date of each crash.
  • Typical day: for each year, the average number of deaths on the same weekday during the other weeks of November 1 through December 15. Comparing Wednesdays with Wednesdays and Saturdays with Saturdays controls for normal weekday and weekend patterns.
  • Deaths are the total number of people killed in each crash.
  • Darkness includes crashes NHTSA records as dark, whether lighted or not.
  • 2024 data comes from NHTSA’s most recent release and may be revised slightly in future updates. The 2020 holiday reflects reduced pandemic-era travel.

Thanksgiving Eve means 6 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thanksgiving morning, compared with the same 12 hours on the other Wednesdays of November 1 through December 15 in the same year.

Fatality counts are not adjusted for how many miles people drove.

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