New Year’s Eve safety tips are getting renewed attention from transportation and consumer safety agencies as celebrations ramp up, with officials warning about preventable spikes in impaired-driving crashes, fireworks injuries, and carbon monoxide poisonings. As the countdown to 2026 approaches, safety officials across the United States are again urging people to plan ahead for New Year’s Eve celebrations, pointing to predictable spikes in preventable injuries and deaths tied to impaired driving, fireworks accidents, carbon monoxide exposure, and drug overdoses. The warnings come as transportation agencies and police departments step up holiday enforcement and public messaging during one of the year’s busiest nights for travel and nightlife.

National data show why the focus remains urgent. In 2023, 12,429 people died in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes in the U.S., about one-third of all traffic crash fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). During the New Year’s holiday period, the National Safety Council has reported that roughly a third of traffic fatalities involved an alcohol-impaired driver in the latest year of available data.

The risks aren’t shared equally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death for American Indian and Alaska Native people, with traffic death rates for children and youth many times higher than other groups—differences that public health experts link to infrastructure gaps, rural road conditions, and barriers to timely emergency care.

What agencies are warning about this year

NHTSA’s winter holiday enforcement push runs from December 12, 2025, through January 1, 2026, and is designed to deter drivers who are impaired by alcohol or other substances through heightened patrols and visibility. In its holiday messaging, the agency has emphasized that planning a sober ride before the night begins remains one of the most effective steps to prevent tragedy. Safety advocates say that guidance matters even more for communities where late-night public transit is limited or expensive, which can leave fewer options beyond driving or riding with someone who should not be behind the wheel.

New Year’s Eve safety tips often start with transportation, because impaired driving remains one of the most lethal risks on the holiday.
Public health experts say New Year’s Eve safety tips also include avoiding indoor generator use and reducing carbon monoxide exposure during winter outages.

Fireworks are another recurring hazard around New Year’s, particularly in places where backyard fireworks are legal or widely used despite restrictions. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimated that fireworks were linked to 14,700 injuries and 11 deaths in 2024, a sharp rise from the year before. In a national safety release, CPSC Acting Chairman Peter Feldman underscored the human toll behind the numbers, saying, “Behind these numbers are real people, real families — and often, preventable incidents.”

While fireworks injuries are most closely associated with Independence Day, emergency physicians and safety officials warn that the same patterns—hand and face burns, eye injuries, and severe trauma from malfunctioning devices—can appear any time fireworks are used at close range or by inexperienced users. The CPSC data also highlight that sparklers, often treated as harmless, send large numbers of people to emergency rooms each year.

Winter weather adds a different, sometimes overlooked threat: carbon monoxide poisoning. As storms and outages affect parts of the country, the CPSC has warned that portable generators can produce lethal carbon monoxide quickly, particularly when used inside homes, garages, or enclosed spaces. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission The agency says about 100 people in the U.S. die each year from generator-related carbon monoxide poisoning. The CDC similarly stresses that carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, and that generator safety depends on outdoor use and careful placement away from doors, windows, and vents.

Public health officials are also watching for substance-related emergencies that can spike during holiday weekends. The CDC describes illegally made fentanyl as a major driver of overdose deaths and notes that fentanyl test strips can detect fentanyl in some drug products, while naloxone can reverse an opioid overdose. SAMHSA notes that opioid overdose reversal medications—including naloxone—are lifesaving and FDA-approved, and it continues to promote access and education as communities confront an evolving overdose crisis. SAMHSA Health researchers have also documented how alcohol can compound risk, including through alcohol-involved drug overdoses and other acute harms tied to binge drinking.

For families hosting or attending New Year’s gatherings, the safety messages from agencies and clinicians often center on decisions made before the night gets underway: arranging sober transportation, avoiding fireworks use when alcohol or drugs are involved, using generators only outdoors if power is lost, and recognizing that overdoses and poisonings can unfold quickly when people mix substances or underestimate potency. Many of these steps rely on access—safe rides, stable housing with working detectors, language-appropriate information, and timely emergency care—which is why health equity advocates continue to push for prevention strategies that reach neighborhoods historically underserved by infrastructure and public health resources.

As New Year’s Eve brings crowded roads and celebrations into the early hours, officials say the simplest rule still applies: the safest ending to the night is the one that gets everyone home alive, without a preventable injury or a medical emergency that could have been avoided with a plan made before the countdown began.

Also Read: Staying Healthy During Holiday Gatherings as Winter Illnesses Rise