At least 3 weekend traffic accident deaths in Mass.

Officials: Thanksgiving ‘the deadliest holiday’

At least three people died in Massachusetts in traffic accidents this Thanksgiving weekend.

A Millis man was killed early yesterday morning when the car he was a passenger in crashed on Barneys Joy Road in Dartmouth shortly after 4:30 a.m., police said.

Dartmouth police Detective Kyle J. Costa said Edward Bowles, 31, was pronounced dead at St. Luke’s Hospital.

Jay Patel, 22, of New Paltz, N.Y., who Costa said was driving the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta, was also hospitalized.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

State police said Deborah A. Burpee, 48, of Kennebunk, Maine, was killed on Interstate 93 north in Woburn Saturday night when the 2009 Honda Fit she was driving slammed into the rear of a GMC Yukon shortly after 5 p.m. Public records show Burpee was a licensed social worker.

Neither the driver of the Yukon, a 42-year-old man from Michigan, nor any of his six passengers were injured, police said.

Police said traffic in the area had slowed or was at a complete standstill just prior to the crash when the Fit hit the Yukon “at a speed greater than that of the other traffic.”

Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office, meanwhile, said pedestrian Donald Champoux, 64, of Newburyport was killed when he was hit by a 2006 Toyota Scion near Low Street in Newburyport shortly before 6:30 p.m. Friday. No charges or citations had been issued as of last night.

Police were still searching last night for the driver of a 2004 Chrysler Sebring Blodgett’s office said collided with a 48-year-old motorcyclist on Western Avenue in Lynn Friday night. The motorcyclist remained hospitalized yesterday.

AAA forecast that 1.1 million people would be traveling in Massachusetts for Thanksgiving.

According to federal transportation authorities, more than 800 people died in alcohol-impaired crashes on the Thanksgiving weekend between 2012 and last year, “making it the deadliest holiday on our roads.”