Preventing Drunk Driving After Your Holiday Party

When hosting your holiday party, your main concern is likely keeping your guests happy with enough food and drinks. By far, the last thing on your mind is whether your guests have had too much alcohol. The truth of the matter is, though, that hosting a party where alcohol is served opens you up to potential lawsuits. If one of your guests is involved in a car accident after leaving your party, the victim of the accident could sue you for your role in overserving.

Regardless of how well you know your guest or how much you interacted with them at your party, you served alcohol to the driver as a host, and thus had the opportunity to prevent the accident. You might share responsibility for the accident in the eyes of the court.

To prevent serious accidents, our car accident injury team has some tips to help keep everyone safe.

Before, During, and After the Party

To avoid turning your merry holiday party into a tragic lawsuit, here are a few tips to keep in mind with each stage of your hosting duties.

Before Your Party

When sending out invites, confirm that at least one person in each group is prepared to be the designated driver for the night, or they have arranged to be driven home via taxi or rideshare service.

Buy plenty of food and non-alcoholic beverages ahead of time to reduce the risk of overconsumption.

Prepare a space for guests to spend the night if they cannot make it home themselves after the party.

During Your Party

Be sure to limit the number of salty snacks you serve your guests. While you may have intended to serve these snacks to balance out your guest’s alcohol consumption, they can actually do the exact opposite and get your guest to drink even more.

While restocking food and beverages throughout the night, take extra care to keep your non-alcoholic beverages fully stocked and easily accessible to your party-goers.

Set a time for when you and your guests will stop drinking for the night. As a host, it is your responsibility to stay within your limits, as well as encourage your guests to do the same. A simple way to do this is to stop serving alcohol at least one hour before your party is scheduled to end.

After Your Party

While you may be anxious for your guests to leave after your party has ended, do not rely on coffee to sober them up, but instead offer them a place to stay, time to sober up, or another way of safely getting home.

If you notice one of your guests is too intoxicated to drive, speak up and offer to call them an Uber, Lyft, or taxi.

Call Our Drunk Driving Accident Attorneys If You Are Injured

With these tips in mind, you are setting yourself up for a successful and safe holiday party season. In the unfortunate event that you or someone you know is a victim of a drunk driving accident where the host did not act responsibly, the experienced Personal Injury team at Jan Dils, Attorneys at Law is here to help. You did not deserve to suffer from the poor decisions of others, but our team can fight for your right to compensation. Call us for a free consultation.