Crashes on Georgia roads killed at least 16 people during the Christmas holiday weekend, according to the Georgia Department of Public Safety.
Last year, 21 were killed during Christmas. And during the recent Thanksgiving holiday, 20 died in crashes, according to the DPS.
This year’s Christmas travel period was 78 hours and began at 6 p.m. Thursday and ended at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, the DPS said. By 6 a.m. on Christmas Eve, five deaths were reported in crashes investigated by Lawrenceville and Cobb County police and troopers from the Dalton and Cuthbert state patrol posts.
A crash Christmas night killed a 16-year-old girl in Middle Georgia, according to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.
Angelica Maio was traveling west on Ayers Road around 8:45 p.m. when she collided with an SUV that was traveling east, the sheriff’s office said. Maio was taken to Piedmont Macon Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. The SUV driver survived the crash and was taken to Atrium Health Navicent. The crash remains under investigation.
In metro Atlanta counties, DeKalb, Gwinnett and Clayton police departments investigated deadly crashes, according to the DPS. Troopers from Thomasville and Grovetown posts also reported fatal crashes.
On Sunday afternoon, a crash involving several motorcycles killed two people and shut down I-75 in Clayton County for several hours, police said. The crash happened around 2:20 p.m. on I-75 southbound just before the Old Dixie Road exit, according to police.
Nighthawks are out patrolling to keep Georgia roads safe from impaired drivers.#GSPNighthawks #gatrooper pic.twitter.com/MFFmFoxPnT
— Georgia Department of Public Safety (@ga_dps) December 25, 2021
Other drivers rendered CPR to two motorcyclists before emergency responders arrived, Clayton County police said. Both motorcyclists died from their injuries. Their names were not released.
A third motorcyclist was critically injured in the crash and a fourth had non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
Law enforcement agencies around the state must now gear up for the New Year’s holiday weekend, also typically a deadly one for travelers.
