The long Labor Day weekend took a deadly toll on Georgia’s roads, with at least 19 traffic fatalities reported across the state.
Two Northeast Georgians are among the fatalities, according to Georgia State Patrol Post 52 in Hartwell. They were killed in a head-on collision on Highway 17 in Franklin County on August 31. Troopers say 36-year-old Lisa Carey of Royston and 51-year-old Jeffrey Wayne Burns of Lavonia both died at the scene.
Triple-fatal near Claxton
Three deaths in Evans County were among Georgia’s first traffic-related fatalities reported over the long holiday weekend. The head-on collision happened on U.S. Highway 301 north of Claxton on Saturday afternoon, August 31, according to the Statesboro Herald.
The wreck involved an SUV and a large van.
In addition to the three who died, the Herald reports two people were flown from the scene by helicopter to a Savannah trauma center, and a sixth person was taken by ambulance to East Georgia Regional Medical Center in Statesboro.
According to the Georgia Department of Public Safety, over the 78-hour-long holiday weekend, fatal accidents were reported in Evans County (3), Putnam County, Richmond County, Valdosta (2), Hartwell (2), Thomasville, Lafayette, Tifton, Brunswick, Dunwoody, Pike County, Bibb County, and Rockdale County, Brunswick, and Morrow.
The holiday travel period began at 6 p.m. on Friday, August 30, and ended at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, September 2.
Last year, 26 people died in Georgia traffic accidents over the Labor Day holiday.
