Community Corner

Make Safety Top Priority in Thanksgiving Travel

Georgia State Patrol Troopers to be patrolling during holiday period. Motorists urged to 'Buckle Up.'

The Georgia State Patrol is reminding drivers to make safety a priority while traveling to visit family and friends for Thanksgiving Day. The Thanksgiving holiday period is one of the heaviest-traveled in Georgia each year, according to a GSP holiday travel advisory. This year, the holiday travel period will cover 102 hours beginning Wednesday, Nov. 23, at 6 p.m. and ending at 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27.

During last year’s Thanksgiving period, the Georgia State Patrol investigated 437 traffic crashes that resulted in 397 injuries and eight fatalities. Statewide there were 2,571 crashes, 1,099 injuries and 13 traffic deaths, according to statistics from the Crash Reporting Unit at the Georgia Department of Transportation.

The highest number of traffic deaths ever recorded for the Thanksgiving holiday period was 43 in 1969, and the lowest was four in 1949.

Col. Mark McDonough, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety, said impaired drivers, drivers traveling too fast for conditions, and the lack of safety belt use are the leading contributing factors to fatal crashes.  “Reducing the number of crashes involving speed, alcohol and seat belt violations will save many lives each year in Georgia,” he said in the announcement. “That’s why we patrol – to save lives.”

Georgia State Troopers will be patrolling throughout the holiday period, Col. McDonough said. The troopers will join with sheriffs’ deputies and police officers in a concentrated enforcement effort as part of Operation Click It or Ticket, Georgia’s safety belt enforcement program coordinated by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, he said.

Troopers will be enforcing Georgia’s primary safety belt law that now includes pick-up trucks. “Please make sure everyone is properly restrained, especially children,” Col. McDonough said. “No one knows when a traffic crash will occur but studies have repeatedly shown that being properly restrained in a motor vehicle is the best protection to avoid seriously injury or death when a crash occurs.”

The GSP also urges drivers who will be on the road during the holiday period to plan trips carefully by allowing ample time to reach their destination, take rest stops along the way, obey the posted speed limit, and don’t drive if they have consumed alcoholic beverages.

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is also an Operation C.A.R.E. holiday period.  Operation C.A.R.E., or Combined Accident Reduction Effort, is a program of the International Association of Chiefs of Police designed to unite the law enforcement community across the United States and Canada in a campaign to reduce traffic deaths through high-visibility enforcement and education.


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