Georgia car accidents claim 12 lives over Labor Day Holiday

Georgia state officials have announced that twelve people lost their lives to car accidents on Georgia roads over the Labor Day holiday weekend.
 
Three of these fatalities occurred in the Atlanta metropolitan area - in the City of Atlanta, in Cherokee County and in DeKalb County. The other nine lives were lost in Gainesville, LaGrange, Griffin, Monroe, Dublin, Valdosta, Lafayette and Hinesville.
 
At least four of the traffic deaths may have involved an alcohol or drug impaired driver.
 
Two of those who died were riding bicycles, two were riding motorcycles, one victim was a passenger on an ATV, and another was a pedestrian.
 
The Georgia State Patrol investigated 360 traffic accidents over the 78-hour Labor Day holiday travel period that extended from 6 p.m. on Friday, September 3 through midnight on Monday, September 6. These crashes resulted in 211 injuries.
 
Last year, 2,401 traffic crashes resulting in 1,069 injuries and 19 traffic deaths were reported over Labor Day weekend in Georgia.
 
This year, Georgia state and local troopers have been enforcing Operation Zero Tolerance (OZT) since August 20th. Traffic enforcement officers conducted high visibility checkpoints and intensified patrolling for impaired drivers across the state. During this time, impaired drivers were sent directly sent to jail if their blood alcohol level exceeded the legal limit of 0.08.
 
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, traffic fatalities occur at an average rate of one every fourteen minutes.