District troopers have busy New Year's period

Troopers from Post A of the South Carolina Highway Patrol had a busy New Year's holiday period.

From Dec. 31 through Jan. 4, troopers from Post A issued 394 tickets and 220 warnings during their fullforce push to keep the highways safe during the holiday.

They responded to 25 wrecks and made 11 arrests for drunk driving, said Lance Cpl. Jeff Gaskin.

Thankfully, Gaskin added, there were no fatalities in Cherokee or Union counties during the holiday period.

Reducing roadway fatalities is the primary goal of putting extra troopers on the roads during the holidays.

Nearly a fourth of all the tickets written by troopers in Post A from Dec. 31 to Jan. 4 were for seatbelt violations.

Of the estimated 903 people killed on South Carolina highways in 2008, Gaskin said 665 of them had access to seatbelts and 418 of those with access were not wearing them.

"Roughly 63 percent of all of those fatalities were unrestrained," he said.