The Mississippi Highway Patrol issued 7,754 citations and worked three fatal accidents during its Thanksgiving blitz.
This year’s effort ran from 6 p.m. Wednesday through midnight Sunday. There were 9,716 citations last year, but that covered a seven-day period.
The Jackson, Meridian and Batesville districts each reported one fatality. The patrol worked 204 collisions during the holiday period.
Southwest Mississippi went through the Thanksgiving holidays without a traffic fatality, according to the Highway Patrol’s Brookhaven-based Troop M.
Troop M covers the nine southwestern counties of Pike, Walthall, Amite, Wilkinson, Lawrence, Lincoln, Franklin, Adams and Jefferson. Highway Patrol troopers issued 1,031 traffic citations during the holiday period is that district.
Fifteen of the tickets issued were for DUI, and troopers made three drug arrests and two felony arrests during the period.
Troopers also worked 15 accidents involving seven injuries. None of the accidents were alcohol related, according to the troop.
In Louisiana, the State Police said alcohol was a factor in four of the 10 fatal crashes it investigated over the holiday. Twelve people were killed in crashes on state highways from Wednesday through Sunday.
