Holiday weekend sees fewer driving drunk, no fatalities
Toolbox
By Dawson Raspuzzi Herald Staff - Published: December 2, 2008
With another one of the year's most heavily traveled holidays in the books, law enforcement agencies in the state reported no fatal accidents over the four-day Thanksgiving weekend for the second consecutive year.
Although there were no fatalities, the number of speeding citations and motor vehicle accidents over the holiday weekend reported by Vermont State Police increased from last year, while the number of people cited by State Police for driving drunk declined.
State Police Sgt. Tara Thomas said 19 people were cited for DUI between Thursday and Sunday, compared to 27 over the same time period last year.
Although the number of impaired drivers cited by State Police was lower this year, the number of those drivers involved in accidents increased from four last year to nine.
In Rutland County, Lt. David Notte said although police saw a large increase of traffic over the weekend, it only resulted in one DUI.
"People were hearing our advice and appointing designated drivers," Notte said.
An increased number of accidents did occur over the weekend in the county compared to years past, although Notte said poor weather was the leading cause.
"Especially with the inclement weather and the adverse weather conditions people were sliding off the roads, but again, that comes with bad conditions," he said.
One of the accidents resulted in head injuries for Joyce Harris, 61, of Gales Ferry, Conn., who was driving southbound Sunday morning on Route 7 in Clarendon.
Police said Harris lost control of the 2000 Buick Regal she was driving and struck a road sign on the east side of the road before crossing both lanes of traffic and striking a guard rail on the west side of the road. The vehicle then crossed the road and went off the east side before crossing both lanes again and going off the west side, down an embankment and striking a tree.
Harris was taken to Rutland Regional Medical Center where she had been treated and released by Monday afternoon.
The State Police from the Rockingham barracks also reported a rollover accident resulting in serious injuries when the driver lost control of her pickup on Interstate 91 in Westminster.
The driver was ejected from the vehicle and her husband had to be extracted before both were transported to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and later transported to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H.
From the New Haven barracks, State Police reported no drunk-driving violations, but seven accidents over the four-day weekend, four of them being single-vehicle accidents on Sunday.
This year's law enforcement efforts around the state, including sobriety checkpoints and additional patrols, were stepped up a bit compared to previous years, said Betsy Ross, a spokeswoman for the Governor's Highway Safety Program.
Numbers from individual law enforcement agencies were not available Monday, Ross said, although patrols around the state included the efforts of 14 county sheriff's departments, State Police from 12 barracks, 30 municipal police departments and four town constables.
Rutland Police Lt. Kevin Geno said in the city, police issued two DUI citations over the holiday weekend and noted a few traffic accidents caused by slick road conditions and heavy traffic.
Geno said a quiet weekend, for the most part, can be credited to the police force's additional presence in the city, with saturation patrols set up for the weekend.
"Visibility is always key," Geno said.
Over the past three Thanksgiving weekends, five people have died on Vermont's highways, according to the GHSP. Even with no fatalities on Vermont's roads during the holiday weekend, the GHSP reports this year's total traffic-related fatalities are still higher than all of last year's — with 69 fatalities on the roads this year, three more than last year's total.
Contact Dawson Raspuzzi at dawson.raspuzzi@rutlandherald.com.
This article was edited Dec. 2, 2008, to remove incorrect information about the number of crashes in Vermont over the Thanksgiving weekend.
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