Fatal Crashes Rose During Holiday

The Georgia State Patrol says there were a higher-than-expected number of traffic fatalities on Georgia roads over the Thanksgiving holiday travel period.

Traffic crashes killed 26 people during the period which began Wednesday at 6 p.m. and ended Sunday night at midnight. The number of deaths was higher than the 18 deaths estimated and higher than the 19 deaths seen during the same period last year.

Despite the increase in crashes, State Patrol officials say a high rate of seat belt use led to a decrease in injuries, which totaled 844.

Getting Home After The Holidays

Hartsfield-Jackson. (Google Earth)

Travelers heading home after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend swarmed airports Sunday but without the long lines and delays many had feared.

"So far, at least, it's been reasonable,'' Alli Charney of Atlanta said as she waited for a flight at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. "I just left very early, got a good night's rest and drank lots of coffee.''

Airport officials estimated about 1.8 million people would pass through Hartsfield during the long holiday weekend, including about 324,000 people on Sunday and 305,000 expected on Monday.

That is about a 4.6 percent increase in holiday weekend traffic from last year, airport spokesman Herschel Grangent said Sunday. Despite light rain, wait times were low at the airport about 25 minutes on Sunday, Grangent said.

But not all travelers were pleased.

Ben Oni had to wait an extra 12 hours at Atlanta for his flight home to San Jose, Calif., while lugging a 32-inch flat screen television, because he missed the check-in deadline for his original flight by one minute.

"It's awful. I feel very unhappy, extremely unhappy and disappointed,'' the program manager said.

Oni was one of about 324,000 people expected to pass through the world's busiest airport and brave what is typically one of the airport's busiest travel days of the year.

(The Associated Press)

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