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15 People Killed On Georgia Roads During Memorial Day Weekend
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Crashes killed 15 people across Georgia over the Memorial Day weekend. The number of collisions is a slight decrease from 2019, according to the Georgia Department of Public Safety.
In 2019, 17 were killed over the holiday weekend, more than double the amount of people who died in 2018, which was eight.
State officials anticipated that this year the holiday weekend would be different because of the social distancing requirements caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of deadly crashes did go down, but drivers still hit the road during the 78-hour holiday period between 6 p.m. Friday, May 22, and 11:59 p.m. Monday, May 25.
Fatal crashes were reported in metro Atlanta and throughout the rest of the state. In addition to Georgia State Troopers, police in Atlanta, Cobb County, Gwinnett County and Monroe County reported deadly accidents throughout the weekend.
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State troopers investigated 317 crashes that resulted in 188 injuries. Nine of those crashes were fatal and caused 11 of the 15 reported traffic deaths.
Troopers also arrested 317 people for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol and issued 9,536 citations and 9,714 warnings. There was only one social distancing violation issued over the weekend, and it was in the metro Atlanta area, DPS said in a statement.
One of the fatal accidents occurred early Saturday morning near Buford when an SUV struck a pedestrian while running across the road, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The young man died Sunday from his injuries.
The AJC also reported on a pair of motorcyclists who were killed Saturday evening in Paulding County when their bike was struck from behind and sent them into oncoming traffic. A 33-year-old man was killed Sunday night in Atlanta after losing control of his motorcycle and hitting a tree.
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