The Fourth of July can be a time for fireworks, but unfortunately fatalities. In 2025, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reported there were an estimated 13,000 injured by fireworks with 1,300 having to go to the emergency room. From 2020 to 2024, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said 2,719 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes with 38% involving a drunk driver.
Personal injury attorney Geoff Moore of Moore Payne Law is no stranger to seeing these incidents after a July 4th weekend. To avoid seeing so many cases in the future, he shared what he often sees involving these cases, and provided tips on how to avoid them.
Moore said the most dangerous things can be split into three categories: water, fireworks, and alcohol. For water, he says pool drownings are most common.
“People aren’t watching, a little kid slips into a pool and what was a celebration turns into an absolute tragedy,” said Moore.
To minimize this, he says there should be someone sober watching the children. It doesn’t have to be the same person the whole night, but can be done in shifts by the adult party guests, or hiring a responsible teenager and paying them to be a lifeguard to watch the children for the night.
For fireworks, he shared what they usually see with firework injuries.
“You have people who are using fireworks that don’t usually use fireworks or are celebrating while impaired and not taking best practices around fireworks,” said Moore. “We’ve seen and gotten a lot of calls, unfortunately, of children who are holding fireworks, or even adults who were holding fireworks who are impaired, or a firework that wasn’t aimed in the proper way and goes straight onto hitting someone.”
He believes that big firework shows should be left to the professionals, but he doesn’t want anyone’s parade to be rained on. So, he offers some tips on what to do when operating fireworks.
“Everyone should be standing really far back and you really should do that without any type of alcohol impairment, which is what we always see, for the most part, is some form of alcohol involved,” said Moore.
He also shared that if the firework has a short fuse or doesn’t light the first time then you should not try to relight it and toss it out.
Lastly, he said they see a lot of accidents revolving around alcohol impairment especially when it comes to driving.
“Assume that those people are not driving safe around you and you should drive ultra cautious outside of anyone else who could be a danger to you as much as humanly possible and then obviously would heavily encourage the use of rideshare apps or designated drivers in your group. Just to avoid anything like that because, like I said, this is a great weekend,” said Moore.
It’s not just drunk driving but drunk boating as well. Moore shared there is an “uptick” in boating accidents around the Fourth of July especially involving alcohol. Usually a driver won’t see someone in the water or vice versa. So, whether you’re a sober swimmer or sober boat driver, make sure to stay vigilant.
Moore’s main message: “go have fun, have a blast, but do what you can to lessen your risk of getting hurt on what should otherwise be a fantastic celebration.”
The Fourth of July should be remembered fondly, not tragically.
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