Public safety officials brace for heavy Thanksgiving week traffic

ALBANY — The 102-hour Thanksgiving travel period gets underway at 6 p.m. Wednesday, and state pubic safety officials say they’re working to prevent last year’s spike in roadway fatalities from being duplicated this week.

“Thanksgiving was a not a good one last year for the state of Georgia,” Harris Blackwood, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, said. “We had a 42 percent increase in fatalities on our roads, and we are doing everything we can to keep that from happening this year.”

According to the Georgia Department of Public Safety, 20 people died on Georgia roads and highways during the Thanksgiving travel period in 2016, up from 14 for the holiday period in 2015.

State public safety officials are stressing alert, sober driving at safe speeds and the use of seat belts as ways to prevent wrecks on roads that are expected to be at their busiest in a dozen years. AAA Auto Club Group estimates that 1.3 million Georgians will travel at least 50 miles from home this week. Nationally, 45.5 million people are expected to make trips this week, and many of those will pass through Georgia on their way to destinations such as Orlando, which perennially is in the nation’s top 10.

“When you get behind the wheel of the car, what is important is to wear to your seat belt, to not drink and drive,” Col. Mark W. McDonough, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety, said. “Plan your trip. Give yourself plenty of time. Obey the posted speed limit. Be courteous to the folks on the road.

“What is important now is not the piece of equipment here, especially when you are behind the wheel of an automobile. What’s important is that your attention is on what is outside the vehicle. Your hand is on the steering wheel and you are paying attention to what is going on around you. … Your safety, the safety of your family and the safety of others on the road is what is most important.”

In addition to the traffic fatalities, which included two in Dougherty County last Thanksgiving, the Georgia Department of Transportation reported there were 5,011 traffic crashes that resulted in 1,755 injuries. The Georgia State Patrol investigated 648 of those crashes, including 347 injuries and 16 deaths. Troopers also handed out 10,652 citations and gave 15,207 warnings. That means troopers averaged 104 tickets and 149 warnings an hour over the holiday period.

“We take saving lives seriously and want to make holiday travel as safe as possible, so troopers will be on high visibility patrols keeping a close watch out for drivers not obeying the traffic laws,” McDonough said.

McDonough said more than half of those killed in traffic wrecks are not wearing seat belts, though Blackwood notes Georgia drivers have one of the nation’s highest rates of seat-belt usage — 97 percent.

“Unfortunately, there are too many holiday tables in Georgia that will be without one or several family members who died as the result of a traffic crash in the past year,” Blackwood said. “The tragic thing is that many of the lives that we have lost would probably be enjoying Thanksgiving dinner this week had they been wearing their seat belt.”

Blackwood said Wednesday is a particularly bad night for drunk driving during Thanksgiving. He said those who plan to drink should make arrangements to do so safely, such as by using a designated sober driver.

“The Wednesday night of this week is usually a big DUI night,” he said. “What happens? A lot of young people come home from college from all parts of the country and want to see their friends, and that usually happens at a watering hole. One drink too many, over the limit and you are under arrest.

“There is nothing worse than having to go down Thanksgiving morning and get someone you love out of jail. We don’t want that to happen. We are asking you to plan now.”

During last year’s holiday period, 292 DUI arrests were made.

“Each holiday travel period, troopers investigate wrecks that could have been preventable, had the drivers put safety first,” McDonough said.