Police prepare for heavy holiday traffic

By Megan Matteucci

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Extra cars on the road coupled with holiday parties mean more deadly crashes this Thanksgiving, police said.

The Georgia State Patrol is predicting 3,570 traffic crashes with 1,398 injuries and 16 deaths this holiday period. The holiday extends from 6 p.m. Wednesday to midnight Sunday.

“Thanksgiving is the most heavily traveled holiday of the year and that’s a recipe for disaster that doesn’t belong on anyone’s holiday menu,” said Bob Dallas, director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

Every available trooper will be on the roads Wednesday and Sunday -- the peak travel time, said Gordy Wright, spokesman for the State Patrol. Troopers will also be doing concentrated patrols and road checks throughout the entire holiday period, Wright said.

The checkpoints and patrols will focus on seat belt and speed violators, along with impaired drivers.

"We want everyone to enjoy the holiday period but also know that impaired drivers will go to jail and their vehicle impounded on the spot," said Colonel Bill Hitchens, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety.

During last year’s Thanksgiving holiday, troopers responded to 3,815 crashes with 1,457 injuries and 19 deaths. Seven of the those 19 people killed were not wearing seat belts. One of those victims died in an alcohol-related crash, Hitchens said.

“Everyone’s best defense against careless and impaired drivers is a buckled seat belt and that’s a fact,” Dallas said in a statement.

More than 70 percent of motorists involved in crashes in the U.S. in 2008 survived because of seat belts, Dallas said.

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