Troopers with the Mississippi Highway Patrol were called to investigate four fatal crashes in the state that killed six people during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend enforcement period.
None of the fatal accidents took place in the Batesville Troop E district, which includes DeSoto County, however.
Three fatalities were in the Troop H district, which is the Meridian area, two were handled by Troop J, which is the Hattiesburg district, and one occurred in the Biloxi district of Troop J.
The six fatalities is four fewer than last year, when a record 10 people died on Mississippi highways during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
None of those accidents last year occurred in DeSoto County, however two of the fatal crashes took place in nearby Marshall County, where two people were killed in separate accidents.
The previous record was seven before last year’s deadly total.
The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is the time frame from midnight Wednesday morning, Nov. 25 to midnight Sunday, Nov. 29.
The lack of fatalities didn’t mean troopers in the Batesville district were not busy during the holiday weekend, however, according to information from the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
A total of 870 calls were handled during the holiday weekend by Troop E-Batesville. Of that total, 518 calls regarded a “hazardous” situation and 277 were considered “non-hazardous.”
Troopers handled 40 stops for seat belt violations and 19 stops for driving under the influence. There were six drug arrests and four felony arrests during the weekend. Six motorists were stopped for child restraint issues and 19 motorist assist stops were made.
A total of 22 collisions took place in the Batesville district during the weekend. Of that number, seven people were injured. None of the accidents involved alcohol.
During the Thanksgiving weekend, a total of 246 collisions were investigated by the Mississippi Highway Patrol, of which three were alcohol-related.
Media reports listed the victims of the four accidents that killed six people as being a Columbia man struck and killed on U.S. 98 in Marion County; a Laplace, Louisiana driver killed when the vehicle being driven left I-10 and struck a tree in Hancock County; two people from Avondale, Louisiana and another victim from Las Vegas, Nevada, all killed in a collision on I-20 in Lauderdale County; and a driver from Mount Olive who died of injuries suffered when his vehicle left U.S. 49 in Covington County.
