Patrol reports no fatal wrecks in Wayne County over the weekend
By John Joyce
Published in News on July 7, 2015 1:46 PM
The N.C. State Highway Patrol reported 10 fatal wrecks statewide over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, none of which took place in Wayne County.
Two people died in separate incidents in Rockingham County, while a single death each were reported in Halifax, Guilford, Greene, Hoke, Gaston, Gates, Pender and Sampson counties.
Although citations and charges were up in Wayne County compared to last year's holiday weekend, one positive takeaway was that no one was killed, officials said.
"Anytime you have no fatal crashes, that's a positive," Troop C District II supervisor First-Sergeant Jerry Burton said.
Charges related to speeding, seat belts and other traffic violations, however, were up from Fourth of July weekend 2014.
Burton said his troopers stepped up patrols locally, as did other Highway Patrol troops across the state over the weekend, enforcing the Governor's Highway Safety Campaign, Booze It and Loose It.
This year's traffic campaign went under the name Operation: Firecracker.
"We had a total of 12 DWI charges," he said.
The highway patrol handed out 206 charges in Wayne County over the four-day holiday weekend.
Burton credits the increase in charges with keeping down the number of collisions.
"Our total charges were up from normal, on a week-to-week basis," Burton said.
"In the pendulum of things, the more charges we give out, the less wrecks we have," he added.
Burton said a more aggressive enforcement campaign, such as Operation: Firecracker, generally leads to lower numbers in wrecks and fatalities.
This year only 27 wrecks were investigated by troopers, also down from last year, Burton said.
Over the weekend, one half of the district was on patrol each night leaving a quarter to patrol the highways during daylight hours while the other quarter rested. This managing of manpower resources served to keep the maximum number of troopers on the roadways during peak times for traffic safety and DWI enforcement, Burton said.
People think twice when they see a lot of us out there with those blue lights flashing," he said.
Eighty-eight speeders were cited this weekend along with three reckless driving citations, eight seat belt violations and a child restraint violation.