It is responsible for thousands of road accidents all year round in the UK but one of the high-point for deaths and injuries caused by drink driving is undoubtedly Christmas time.
As a result, anti-drink driving poster campaigns have become a regular Christmas fixture - though their hard-hitting message rarely feels very festive.
The posters usually target young male drivers, the group most likely to commit drink driving offences. But according to the BBC, research in Scotland shows a second group is hot on their heels - young female drivers.
Girls are used to paying less for woman car insurance, but with more and more (in Scotland at least) succumbing to that extra glass of wine or eggnog, those cheap car insurance premiums are coming under threat.
And for those women drink-drivers who aren't stopped and breathalysed, a little festive over-indulgence could end up causing serous injury or even death.
"It's bad enough to see drink-driving on the increase for any cross-section of drivers - but for young women specifically it's terrible," said Lee-Anne Bass, spokesperson for the woman car insurance experts at CoverGirl.
"I don't understand how the safe driving message can be failing to get though," she added.