State police gear up for busy Thanksgiving highways
State police are reminding drivers to not speed, stay off their cellphones and have designated drivers if they plan to drink alcohol over the long holiday weekend.
With tens of thousands of travelers driving through the state Wednesday through Sunday, Connecticut State Police said they are ramping up their plans to keep highways safe for all during the holiday rush.
State police said they plan to supplement routine patrol personnel with additional troopers who will focus on aggressive, unsafe and drunken drivers.
Troopers are committed to reducing crashes through preventive enforcement initiatives such as roving DUI patrols, state police said in a news release.
They also will be looking for drivers who could cause accidents and reminded the public to obey traffic laws, not follow too close, obey the speed limit, stay off cellphones while driving and, if a driver is planning to drink, not to drive.
They also asked that adults remind young people, especially college students home on break, of the laws regarding alcohol consumption and drinking and driving.
Uniformed troopers will use traditional and non-traditional patrol cars to observe traffic and issue tickets to reckless and distracted drivers, the state police said.
Over the 2014 Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Connecticut state police investigated 934 accidents that resulted in 97 injuries and one fatality. They also arrested 52 people for driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
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