How to Avoid Impaired Driving Crashes This Ohio Football Season

Fall football is back in Ohio, which means packed high school stadiums on Friday nights, Buckeye and Bearcats crowds on Saturdays, and Browns and Bengals fans filling stadiums, bars, and watch parties on Sundays.

At Slater & Zurz, we’re huge football fans, but we also know the drive home can come with real risks for Ohio families. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, 72,130 OVI-related crashes occurred on Ohio roads between 2019 and November 18, 2024. Football weekends do not account for all of those crashes, of course, but nighttime driving, congested roads, distraction, and alcohol can make the trip home from a game more dangerous than the trip there.

Friday Night Football Brings Added Risks for Teen Drivers

For many Ohio communities, football weekend begins before Saturday. High school football brings students, parents, families, and spectators onto the road at roughly the same time, often after dark. Teen drivers may be leaving crowded school parking lots with friends in the car while parents navigate pickup areas and pedestrians cross near stadiums.

Those conditions matter because teen drivers already face a higher crash risk than more experienced motorists. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that the fatal crash rate per mile driven for 16- to 19-year-olds is over three times the rate for drivers age 20 and older. In 2024, 58% of teenage passengers who died in passenger vehicles were riding with another teenager behind the wheel.

Parents can reduce some of that risk before their teenager ever leaves for the game. Know who will be driving and what the plan is for getting home—even better, use this guide on talking to your teen about distracted driving to help your young driver build safer habits.

Impaired Driving Risks Increase Around College and NFL Game Days

College and professional football can create a tricky driving environment. A game day may begin hours before kickoff with tailgating, continue through several hours in the stadium, and end at a restaurant, sports bar, or watch party. For many fans, getting home also means joining thousands of other drivers leaving at approximately the same time.

Alcohol adds another layer of risk. A driver who has been drinking may have slower reaction times, poorer judgment, and less ability to respond to sudden traffic changes. In a crowded post-game environment, those impairments can have serious consequences.

The safest plan is to decide how you are getting home before anyone starts drinking. Once alcohol is involved, “I’ll figure it out later” can turn into a much harder decision than it seemed at kickoff.

Why Impaired-Driving Crashes Can Cause Catastrophic Injuries

Any motor-vehicle crash can cause serious injuries, but with an impaired driver having less ability to recognize danger and react before impact, the risk of high-speed rear-end crashes, head-on collisions, intersection crashes, pedestrian strikes, and roadway-departure accidents rises. 

The results can include traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations, severe orthopedic trauma, organ damage, and other injuries that permanently affect a person’s ability to work or live independently. 

Impaired-driving crashes can also be fatal. When a family loses someone because another driver chose to get behind the wheel while intoxicated, an Ohio wrongful death claim may provide a way to seek compensation for the financial and personal losses caused by that death.

Who Can Be Held Responsible After a Drunk-Driving Crash?

In most impaired-driving accident cases, the first potential defendant is straightforward: the driver who caused the crash. An injured person may be able to seek compensation for medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, property damage, future treatment, reduced earning capacity, and other collision-related losses.

But serious cases sometimes require looking beyond the driver. That can be particularly important when a victim suffers a catastrophic injury, and the at-fault driver’s insurance coverage is not enough to compensate for the long-term cost of the damage. 

Depending on how and where the driver obtained alcohol, a car accident attorney may investigate whether a bar, restaurant, or other liquor permit holder also bears legal responsibility. The challenge is that when an injury happens away from the establishment or a parking lot under its control, the injured person generally must show that the permit holder or one of its employees knowingly sold alcohol to a noticeably intoxicated person, or unlawfully sold alcohol to an underage person, and that the person’s intoxication proximately caused the injury. 

As a result, an investigation may need to look at surveillance footage, receipts or bar tabs, point-of-sale records, witness statements, credit card records, photos or videos taken during the game, social media posts, and police body-camera footage. 

Gathering that evidence is one reason it’s especially important to involve a personal injury attorney early after a serious impaired-driving crash. We can identify the businesses and other parties that may have relevant evidence, take steps to preserve records or footage before they disappear, interview witnesses, and investigate whether the facts support a claim beyond the driver who caused the crash. 

Enjoy the Game, and Get Home Safely

Football season is a big part of fall in Ohio, and at Slater & Zurz, we’re proud to be part of that community. A little planning before kickoff can help make sure the memories from game day are good ones.

Unfortunately, accidents can still happen. If you or someone you love was seriously injured by an impaired driver after a football game, tailgate, watch party, or night out, the driver may not be the only party whose actions should be investigated.

Our Ohio car accident lawyers can review what happened, identify available insurance coverage, and determine whether another person or business may share responsibility for your injuries. In a catastrophic case, that can be especially important when the losses extend far beyond the limits of a single auto insurance policy.

Contact our team at (330) 762-0700 for a free, no-obligation consultation. You pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.