Video: Highway Patrol Readies for Holiday Weekend

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Miss (WCBI) – Officials want a repeat of last year’s no fatality Memorial Day Holiday. The 78-hour Memorial Day Holiday begins at 6:00 p.m. today (Friday, May 24th) and ends at midnight Monday, May 27th (Monday night into Tuesday morning).

“The Memorial Day weekend is the traditional beginning of the summer holiday travel season,” Public Safety Commissioner Albert Santa Cruz said. “We plan to have all available resources out this Memorial Day Weekend to encourage motorists to obey the rules of the road.”

Over the past seven years, there has been a steady decline in the number of statewide fatalities. In 2005, 931 people died on Mississippi roads and highways. Last year, 582 people were killed in traffic crashes, a reduction of 38%.

“Seat belts save lives,” MHP Director Colonel Donnell Berry said. “The motoring public is better educated about the importance of wearing safety belts and it is making a difference. Mississippi began its participation in the Click It or Ticket initiative in 2002. At that time the seat belt usage rate was about 50 percent. Since then, the usage rate is up to nearly 82 percent.

During the 2012 Memorial Day Holiday, MHP issued a total of 8,367 tickets, investigated 101 crashes, made 246 DUI arrests and issued 975 seat belt violation and 165 child-restraint violation tickets.

Categories: Crime, Local News

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