(March 15, 2017) DENVER — This year St. Patrick's Day falls on a Friday, and newly released data indicates the day of the week could generate a surge in binge drinking and drunk driving this coming weekend. The data, from Alcohol Monitoring Systems (AMS), shows that drinking violations by repeat drunk drivers ordered to stay sober are expected to jump 17 percent nationwide on Friday (March 17), compared to the average daily violation rate during the rest of the year.

Most notable in the data is the fact that the expected surge is 50 percent higher than if St. Patrick's Day fell during the week. AMS is also predicting violations will rise nearly 25 percent on Saturday.

The findings come from a nationwide analysis of the drinking behavior of 540,000 repeat DUI offenders monitored with continuous alcohol monitoring bracelets over the last 14 years for alcohol consumption. The testing protocol, which automatically tests participants every 30 minutes, 24/7, allows social researchers to analyze how different factors, such as specific holidays and days of the week, influence drinking violations.

The majority of individuals monitored by AMS are considered to be high-risk, repeat drunk drivers who have been court-ordered to stay sober, knew they were being monitored and knew there would be consequences for drinking, including incarceration.

"The people we monitor know they will be caught, yet violations still skyrocket. You can imagine the rate of drinking for those who aren't being monitored," says Kathleen Brown, spokesperson for AMS.