CT state police: 165 crashes this Memorial Day weekend, 16 charged with DUI
State troopers have been busy on state roads and highways this Memorial Day weekend and have made 611 traffic stops that have netted 16 arrests for alleged driving under the influence, according to Connecticut State Police.
Connecticut State Police have responded to 2,548 calls for service during the time period beginning at midnight Friday May 23, and ending at 11:59 pm, on Saturday, May 24, according to the agency.
During that span there have been 165 total motor vehicle crashes, 13 with injuries, two with serious injuries, but with no fatalities in that time period, according to state police.
Connecticut State Police have also responded to 190 calls for traffic services through Saturday. Those type of services include debris removal, assisting with disabled or hazardous motor vehicles.
AAA Club Alliance anticipated a 3% increase in travel throughout the state during the holiday five-day period from Thursday, May 22 through Monday, May 26.
More than 485,000 state residents were expected to travel 50 miles or longer this weekend and more than two million people are expected to travel throughout New England, according to AAA Club Alliance.
There were 83 fatalities on state roads for the year as of last week, down nearly 20 percent from this point last year, according to the Connecticut Department of Transportation and the UConn Crash Data Repository. The numbers show the state is seeing its biggest reduction in fatal crashes in the past five years.
Despite a recent fatal of fatal crashes, the 83 fatalities represent a big drop from the 108 fatalities reported at this point last year and the 109 deaths in the same time period in 2023 and 2022. Authorities remind motorists that each of those fatalities is a tragedy and has far-reaching consequences for friends and families of the victims. They urge motorists to follow traffic laws.
'They're not just stats on a paper,' a DOT spokesman has said. 'They represent human life. And people are grieving those lives. So we need to spread some of that empathy and some of that awareness that, if we all did our part we can save lives and reduce some of the tragedies that people are feeling on a daily basis in our state.'
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