The Holiday season is amongst one of the most joyous times of the year.

Many spend time with friends, family, loved ones; others spend the holidays with charitable acts for others – but for some, the Holiday Season can be deadly.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that Thanksgiving leads to more deadly accidents than any other holiday.

Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf said that statistics like that are very sad. “This is a time when families should be getting together and giving thanks and spending a lot of quality time together.”

According to a Forbes Report published in 2014, in 2012, there were 764 fatality crashes during Thanksgiving 2012; 40% of those were related to drunk driving, while 60% were the result of not wearing a safety belt.

“Just because you think you feel alright, does not mean you are alright; there is a difference between being drunk and being legally drunk. at 0.08 in your system, it does inhibit your ability to react to things and your judgement skills are dampened by the alcohol that you’ve consumed,” said Wolf.

But what about the other 60% of drivers in that Thanksgiving year?

Captain Chuck Leithoff, JCPD, said that people are eager to be with their family and friends. “People are excited about getting toward their destination or whatever they’re going to be doing and so they’re maybe a little less cautious, and that’s why we try to remind people to be more cautious and be more attentive and more alert when they’re driving.”

Leithoff said to give yourself plenty of time to reach your destinations, monitor the weather, properly secure yourself and children in car seats/seat belts and slow down.

The biggest piece of advice from Sheriff Wolf?

“In the last few days we’ve had fatalities here in Geary County that were horrible and they have apparently had something to do with illicit drugs or alcohol and that is not a mixture to put out on the highway; and not only are you putting yourself at risk, but you’re putting someone else’s family members at risk too,” said Wolf.

Both the JCPD and Geary County Sheriff’s Department did not indicate additional patrols during the Thanksgiving weekend, but both have indicated they will be visible and present.