New Year’s Day Holiday Period Estimate for 2026
National Safety Council (NSC) estimates that 429 people may die on U.S. roads this New Year’s Day holiday period. Slightly above the six-year average of 423 fatalities experienced over New Year’s Day holidays of the same length. Holidays traditionally are a time of travel for families across the United States. Many choose car travel, which has the highest fatality rate of any major form of motorized transportation based on fatalities per passenger mile. Holidays are also often cause for celebrations involving alcohol consumption, a major contributing factor to motor-vehicle crashes.
New Year’s Day is observed on January 1. The New Year’s Day holiday period varies from 1.25 to 4.25 days in length, depending on which day of the week the holiday falls. In 2026, New Year’s Day falls on a Thursday, so the holiday period is 4.25 days and extends from 6 p.m. Wednesday, December 31, 2025 to 11:59 p.m. Sunday, January 4, 2026.
Visit the Holiday Introduction page for a list of holiday periods and their definitions.
National Safety Council Estimate
There is uncertainty associated with any estimate. The 90% confidence interval for the estimate of traffic deaths this holiday is 339 to 529. This chart shows NSC New Year’s Day holiday fatality estimates and confidence intervals compared to the actual number of deaths. The latest final fatality data available are for 2023. NSC underestimated the actual number of New Year’s Day deaths in 2023 by 5.3%, falling within the confidence interval.
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- Data Table
Source: Estimates and confidence intervals are calculated by NSC; actual deaths reflect NSC analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data.
Injuries
A medically consulted injury is an injury serious enough that a medical professional was consulted. Based on the current medically consulted injury to death ratio of 114:1 and rounded to the nearest hundred, the estimate of nonfatal medically consulted injuries that will result from crashes during the holiday period is 48,900, with a 90% confidence interval of 38,600 to 60,300.
Lives saved with seat belts
Studies show seat belts, when used, are 45% effective in preventing fatalities among front-seat passenger car occupants (see note below for more details). An estimated 153 lives may be saved this New Year’s Day holiday period because vehicle occupants wear their seat belts. An additional 109 lives could be saved if everyone wears seat belts.
Impaired Driving
Nationwide, alcohol-impaired fatalities (involving blood-alcohol content of 0.08 g/dL or higher) in 2023 represented 30% of the total traffic fatalities. During the 2023 (latest available data) New Year’s Day holiday period, 34% of fatalities involved an alcohol-impaired driver. This chart shows the historic trend of the percent of fatalities involving an alcohol-impaired driver.
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- Data Table
Source: NHTSA, Traffic Safety Facts Annual Report Tables
Note: Highest blood-alcohol concentration among drivers or motorcycle riders involved in the crash was 0.08 grams per deciliter (g/dL) or higher. The holiday periods used to calculate the percentages conform to the NHTSA holiday period definitions that add another quarter day to the periods used for the NSC estimate.
Although the reduction in the risk of fatal injury from wearing seat belts is higher for light-truck occupants at 50%, the lower figure for passenger car occupants is used in the calculations here as the more conservative measure. The most recent data from FARS indicate that seat belt use by fatally injured passenger car and light truck occupants was 43.7%.