Crime & Safety

UPDATED: Traffic Fatalities Down During Labor Day Weekend

Only six traffic fatalities reported on Georgia roads compared to 14 for the same period last year.

Updated 4:53 p.m. 

Despite wet roads on the last day of the Labor Day weekend, the Georgia Department of Public Safety reported a significant drop in traffic fatalities on Georgia Roads over the 78-hour travel weekend. For reporting purposes, the Labor Day travel weekend is from 6 p.m. Friday to midnight Monday.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Safety website, there were six fatalities reported statewide during this period. Georgia State Patrol reported 435 crashes with 225 injuries. Last year the GSP reported 360 crashes with 211 injuries and 13 fatalities. Statewide in 2010, with all agencies reporting, there were 14 fatalities, 2,580 crashes and 1,042 injuries reported.

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A spokesman for the Georgia State Patrol confirmed that Alex Fowlin, reported as deceased in a Saturday night accident in Rockdale County, is in fact still alive.

"I've just received confirmation that Alex Fowlin, the 10-year-old from Saturday night's ," GSP spokesman Gordy Wright said in a release. "The trooper was given inaccurate information that led to the person being reported as a fatality."

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Wright said he would pass along information as it became available. This would reduce the traffic fatalities to six instead of seven as originally reported.

Fatalities reported in 2011 included one by authorities in Cherokee County, one from the Georgia State Patrol Post in Athens, one from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, one from the Pike County Sheriff’s Office, one from the GSP Post in Thomasville and two from the GSP Post in Walton County.


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