The THP will conduct its routine Thanksgiving holiday enforcement campaign across the state. During last year’s 120-hour holiday period, there were eight people killed during eight separate crashes in Tennessee, up one from the previous year. Four of those crashes involved an alcohol-impaired driver, and four were unrestrained.
“The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) will also promote the I-40 Challenge on its dynamic message boards and has suspended lane closures until 6 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 28. Our regional Help Trucks will also be working throughout the holiday weekend to assist with incidents that may occur along the interstates,” TDOT Commissioner Schroer said.
Because Thanksgiving week is one of the busiest travel periods of the year, Tennessee Highway Safety Office Director Vic Donoho asks all Tennesseans to help promote traffic safety for the holidays.
State law enforcement officials have also seen a 4.6 percent decline in alcohol-related crashes this year, compared to this same time last year. the THP’s DUI enforcement has continued to contribute to the reduction in the number of impaired driving crashes across the state.
To date in 2016, Tennessee state troopers have arrested 6,798 individuals on suspicion of impaired driving. That represents a 56 percent increase over the last five years.
