Between visiting for Thanksgiving and shopping for Christmas,
people were doing a lot of driving this weekend. Combine that
congestion with a dose of liquid holiday cheer, and the South
Valley saw a lot of wrecks.
Between visiting for Thanksgiving and shopping for Christmas, people were doing a lot of driving this weekend. Combine that congestion with a dose of liquid holiday cheer, and the South Valley saw a lot of wrecks.
There were 28 vehicle collisions from Wednesday to Sunday, eight with one or more injuries, according to the local California Highway Patrol whose area Driving-under-the-influence arrests were made in connection with three accidents.
It could easily have been worse. There were no highway-related deaths, and none of the accidents caused more than minor injuries. No more than two people were hurt in any given wreck.
DUI arrests and DUI-related crashes were up this year, however. CHP officers made 18 DUI arrests from Wednesday to Sunday, three from accident scenes. On the 2002 long weekend, there were 11 DUI arrests, only one resulting from a collision.
Crashes and injuries were down somewhat from last year. During the same five days in 2002, the CHP logged 32 accidents, 11 with injury.
Overall, CHP Officer and spokesman Brad Voyles described the holiday weekend as “not too bad.”
Statewide, however, Voyles’ assessment didn’t hold true.
It was a particularly deadly holiday weekend, the CHP reported, with at least 31 people killed in traffic accidents and more than 1,500 people arrested for investigation of drunk driving, including one man who could also face murder charges.
Thirty-one people died in California traffic accidents between 6 p.m. Wednesday and 6 a.m. Sunday, the CHP reported.
