Christmas 2010 is officially behind us and so is the busy holiday travel weekend.  Georgia defined the official Christmas travel period as beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, December 23, 2010 and continuing through midnight on Sunday, December 26, 2010.

The news about Georgia accidents released by the Georgia Department of Public Health was both good and bad.  The good news is that there were significantly fewer crashes, injuries and fatalities reported by the Georgia State Police in 2010 as compared to 2009.  In 2010, the Georgia State Police responded to 388 crashes in the 78 hour Christmas holiday travel period.  There were 164 injuries and three deaths reported by the State Police.  Other agencies have not yet reported their numbers so the actual number of crashes, injuries and deaths may be higher.  In 2009, the Georgia State Police responded to 410 crashes, 237 injuries and seven fatalities over the Christmas holiday travel period.

Of course, while it is good news that there were fewer accidents, injuries and deaths, there were many families suffering from the injuries and fatalities caused by Georgia crashes this Christmas.   To those families, we extend our best wishes for quick recoveries to the injured and our sincere condolences to the loved ones of the fatally injured victims.