Post A troopers cite 732 during holiday period

Ongoing efforts by the South Carolina Highway Patrol to stress the need for roadway safety resulted in hundreds of motorists seeing blue lights during the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

From July 3 to July 6, troopers in Post A, which covers Cherokee and Union counties, issued 732 traffic citations and wrote 123 warnings, according to Lance Cpl. Bryan McDougald.

Almost half of the tickets, 367 of them to be exact, were for seat belt violations.

During the 4-day period, Post A troopers made 11 arrests for drunk driving and responded to 28 traffic accidents.

"The most important thing we look at, more than warnings and cases, was the fact we had no fatalities during the July 4 holiday for Post A," McDougald said.

Police were out in full force during the long holiday weekend, conducting a number of safety checkpoints in addition to increased patrols in areas known for higher rates of drunk driving, accidents and reckless driving.

"During the holiday period, every available trooper was working," McDougald said. "We even had nontraditional enforcement troopers, such as those assigned to administrative duties, out on the highways."