Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Crashes spike over holiday weekend
The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is typically the time when friends get together at bars and parties to catch up after traveling home for family dinners.
These gatherings can lead to drinking and reckless driving.
The Thanksgiving weekend in 2019 had the highest number of crashes and the second highest number of fatalities of any major holiday season last year, PennDOT officials said.
There were 4,477 crashes and 35 fatalities statewide during the Thanksgiving holiday travel period, according to PennDOT.
Eight of those fatalities occurred on Thanksgiving eve, with 13 on Thanksgiving and 14 on Black Friday.
There were no fatalities in Berks County, according to the newspaper archives.
Labor Day weekend had the second highest number of crashes, but the highest number of fatalities, according to PennDOT There were 2,767 crashes and 40 fatalities reported during Labor Day weekend.
Sixteen of the fatalities occurred on Labor Day, with 11 on the eve of Labor Day and 13 the day after Labor Day.
There were no fatalities on Labor Day weekend in
Berks last year, according to newspaper archives.
Officials are unsure if those types of statistics will continue this year because fewer motorists are driving in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak nine months ago.
Traffic has dropped significantly, and Pennsylvania has tightened its guidelines for dining out and social gatherings.
State Trooper David C. Boehm, spokesman for Troop L, which covers Berks, Lebanon and Schuylkill counties, does not anticipate any large parties or gatherings in bars because of Gov. Tom Wolf’s pandemic restrictions.
He said if people are drinking, even in small gatherings, they should be responsible and designate a driver.
“You should not go out and drink and drive,” he said. “I would like to think that people are getting more responsible. If you go to a friend’s house to drink, you should not be driving.”
AAA Reading- Berks, based in Wyomissing, predicts at least a 10% overall reduction nationwide in travelers, the largest drop since the Great Recession of 2008.
Travel by vehicles is expected to drop by 4.3% to 47.8 million travelers nationwide. Travel by air is expected to drop 47.5% with 2.5 million travelers nationwide.
Also, Those traveling by bus, train or cruise is forecast to drop 76.2% to 353,000 nationwide.
Those predictions came before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday advised people not to travel for Thanksgiving and not to spend the holiday with people from outside their household.
For Pennsylvanians, a recent surge in coronavirus cases prompted Secretary of Health Rachel L. Levine on Tuesday to issue additional travel safety restrictions:
• Pennsylvanians who travel to another state are required to have a negative COVID- 19 test within 72 hours before returning.
• Pennsylvania residents who do not get a test are required to quarantine for 14 days upon returning to Pennsylvania.
• Travelers who opt to quarantine may leave their homes for coronavirus testing or medical services.
• Restrictions apply to all states because coronavirus cases are increasing significantly.
• Restrictions do not apply to people who commute to and from another state for work or medical treatment.