The Georgia Department of Public Safety is reminding drivers to use extra caution this Memorial Day weekend. The state DOT predicts 18 traffic deaths, 2,401 traffic crashes and 1,012 injuries during the 78-hour holiday period that begins Friday, May 26 at 6 p.m. and ends at midnight Memorial Day.
Colonel Bill Hitchens, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety, said Georgia State Troopers and officers from the Department’s Motor Carrier Compliance and Capitol Police divisions will be patrolling throughout the holiday weekend and cautioned drivers against drinking and driving.
“Last year, Georgia experienced a record number of traffic deaths for the Memorial Day weekend,” he said. “We will have every available trooper and officer on patrol during the heaviest travel periods of the weekend targeting impaired drivers, occupant protection violations and aggressive drivers.”
Hitchens said troopers and state officers will be patrolling not only the interstates but secondary roads as well. GDOT is suspending road construction during the holiday weekend.
The Memorial Day 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 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. The program is now in its 29th year.