Decline in Traffic Fatalities over Christmas Holiday Weekend

Nashville, Tennessee —Preliminary reports indicate seven people were killed during the long holiday weekend, compared with nine fatalities during last year’s Christmas holiday.  Statistics for the 2007 Christmas holiday reflect the time period from 6:00 p.m., Friday, December 21, 2007, to midnight Tuesday, December, 25, 2007.

If preliminary figures hold true, two fewer fatalities occurred on Tennessee highways this year, than last year, despite a longer holiday period.  In 2007, the official holiday period was 102-hours.  The official Christmas holiday period was 78-hours in 2006, because Christmas fell on a Monday last year.

This year, there were seven fatal crashes, two of which were single vehicle crashes; five were multiple vehicle crashes, and one motorcyclist was killed.  Alcohol was involved in one crash, which represents another decline from 2006.  Last year, a third of the fatalities during Christmas occurred in alcohol-related crashes.

Over the long holiday weekend, the Tennessee Highway Patrol conducted nearly 40 sobriety and driver license checkpoints across the state.  As part of a special holiday enforcement plan, “Drunk Driving.  Over the Limit.  Under Arrest.” Troopers, including administrative personnel, will continue to conduct saturation patrols and checkpoints through the first weekend of 2008.

THP is also participating in the Governor’s Highway Safety Office’s Cumberland Crackdown.  The initiative kicks off at noon on Friday, December 28, 2007, and runs through midnight that same evening.  It is one of the largest enforcement events in Tennessee.   State Troopers are teaming-up with officers from 22 other law enforcement agencies to conduct saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints.  They will be focusing their efforts on State Routes 127 and 111.  Both highways intersect in Pickett County at the Kentucky border and cross the Cumberland Plateau before ending in Hamilton County.

A preliminary holiday statistical report, including the locations of where the fatal crashes occurred over the 2007 Christmas holiday period, accompanies this release. Please note the official traffic fatality count may rise due to delays in reporting and classification of traffic fatalities.