Thanksgiving Holiday Traffic Deaths Increase In Virginia: Police

VIRGINIA — Ten people died on Virginia roadways over the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend, according to the Virginia State Police. One of the deaths was a 6-year-old boy.

From Nov. 25 through Nov. 29, the state police reported eight fatal crashes, leading to the 10 deaths, an increase from 2019 when there were eight traffic deaths during the five-day Thanksgiving period. In 2018, 12 people died in traffic crashes during the same period, the Virginia State Police said.

Altogether, the Virginia State Police responded to 733 crashes across the state during the five-day period, with 117 of the crashes resulting in injuries.

Preliminary data shows that speed played a factor in at least four of the fatal crashes. Those four crashes led to the deaths of six people, including a teenager and the 6-year-old boy.

“Speed and lack of personal safety restraints continue to cost Virginians their lives,” Colonel Gary T. Settle, Virginia State Police superintendent, said Thursday in a statement. “As we continue through the holiday season, I am pleading with Virginians of all ages to respect and comply with all traffic safety laws."

The fatal crashes occurred in the cities of Lynchburg, Newport News and Richmond and the counties of Frederick, Pittsylvania, Rockingham and Shenandoah. Of those crashes, one was alcohol related, four were speed related and one involved a pedestrian.

During the Thanksgiving holiday, the Virginia State Police participated in Operation C.A.R.E., or Crash Awareness and Reduction Effort, an annual program during which the state police increases its visibility and traffic enforcement efforts.

In 2020, the C.A.R.E. initiative resulted in state troopers citing 4,930 speeders and 1,706 reckless drivers statewide over the Thanksgiving period. Virginia troopers charged 67 drivers for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and cited 498 drivers for failing to buckle up, the state police said.