The police always have to deal with a lot of traffic issues over the holidays. This includes more than just Christmas and New Year’s Eve. The summer holidays can be brutal too when it comes to DUI arrests and traffic fatalities.
The Georgia State Patrol saw the number of DUI arrests and drunk driving fatalities go way up this year. For example, last year, there were 244 arrests for drunk driving. This year, over the Labor Day weekend, there were 309 DUI arrests. This is an increase of 27%.
Part of this could be due to the fact that people were so tired of being cooped up during the COVID-19 quarantine. They were excited to get out for the holiday and spend time partying with friends and family. But that is no excuse to get drunk and then get behind the wheel.
The police consider Labor Day weekend to start at 6 pm on Friday and to end at midnight on Monday. This year, the police wrote mor than 8,800 traffic tickets. They also issued over 10,000 warnings. And as mentioned above, they made over 300 DUI arrests. This included both Fulton County and Athens-Clarke County.
The other thing that is concerning to law enforcement is that there were 19 deaths over the weekend due to DUI crashes. Last year, there were only 10 DUI fatalities. This year, that number nearly doubled. The police had to address a total of 17 fatal DUI crashes over the holiday weekend alone.
If you’re arrested and charged with DUI, you’re going to need the help of a DUI defense lawyer in Athens, Georgia. Call our office as soon as possible after your arrest.
Source: https://patch.com/georgia/dacula/ga-labor-day-traffic-deaths-nearly-double-dui-arrests-27