In a University of Alabama study published in November and titled “Holiday Driving Dangerous, More So Just Before Christmas,” researchers found the days leading up to Christmas can be more dangerous on roadways than the days surrounding Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

In the study of traffic data by the UA Center for Advanced Public Safety, researchers analyzed the past 10 years of Alabama crash data during six-day periods surrounding Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s.

They found that in 2012, the six-day period that includes Christmas had 18 percent more auto accidents than the Thanksgiving period and 27 percent more than the days around New Year’s Day.

“The shopping days before Christmas are perilous,” said Dr. David Brown, a professor of computer science at UA and a research associate with CAPS.

In 2012, there were 1,996 crashes from Dec. 21–26, with 10 fatal accidents. From the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to the Sunday after the holiday last year, there were 1,698 crashes, with nine fatal crashes.

From Dec. 27 to New Year’s Day in 2013, there were 1,552 accidents, with 10 fatal crashes.

For all three holidays, the severity of crashes was about the same with just more than 20 percent of crashes resulting in injuries, including fatal crashes.

“Clearly Thanksgiving week and the days leading up to and including New Year’s Eve and Day are much lower than the six-day period that included Christmas,” Brown said. “While fatal crashes were comparable, crashes involving injuries and those with only property damage were significantly higher mainly before Christmas. This was probably a result of the increased traffic due to late Christmas shopping, coupled with long distance travel where many might not be familiar with their travel environment.”

Traffic safety professionals at CAPS offered tips for the holidays including:

•Never drive with cell phone or texting distractions and anticipate this behavior in others by the actions of all vehicles around you. Get and stay away from these problematic vehicles.

•Drive with the flow of traffic, and do not exceed the speed limit. A 10-miles-per-hour reduction in speed doubles chances of surviving a crash.

•Get Christmas shopping done early, and avoid the pre-Christmas rush, especially after dark.

•Avoid being out in inclement weather. Weather has a great impact on crashes in general, although they tend to be of lower severity.