New Year’s Eve is a time for revelry, but data shows it is one of the most dangerous nights to be on the road because of drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data shows the odds of getting in a car accident on New Year’s Eve skyrockets because there are more drunk drivers on the road.

In McKean County, Lewis Run-based state police will be out in force, working to maintain safety throughout the county.

Barracks commander Sgt. Tom Granville said DUI arrests are up for the year locally.

“We’ve got some pretty young aggressive guys here at the station,” Granville said. “Our numbers have really increased.”

While it’s a positive sign that so many intoxicated drivers have been caught, it’s not a good sign that so many people are continuing to drive under the influence.

“It’s not getting any better,” Granville said.

In comparing DUI arrests in 2020 to 2021, there was about a 14% increase.

“In 2020 at this station we had 183 DUI arrests, which includes drug and alcohol both,” the sergeant said. “This year to date we have 209, so we’re up 26 from last year.

“For a small station these guys go out and do a pretty good job,” he added.

For New Year’s Eve, extra patrols will be out.

“We have our normal patrols to handle incidents and other patrols out for DUI and speed enforcement,” Granville said.

According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the average person arrested for DUI has driven drunk 80 times before their first arrest.

Every day about 800 people are injured in a drunk driving crash. And each day, people drive drunk more than 300,000 times, but only about 3,200 are arrested, according to MADD.

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, “Every day, about 28 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes — that’s one person every 52 minutes.”