GULFPORT — State troopers in South Mississippi saw a drastic decrease in unsafe drivers over the three-day weekend in comparison to the July 4 holiday period last year.

The Mississippi Highway Patrol wrote 546 traffic citations in Troop K over the three-day weekend. That’s a decrease of nearly 58 percent from the 1,287 citations written in the holiday period a year ago.

Troop K is MHP’s southern-most patrol district. It is composed of Harrison, Jackson, Hancock, George, Stone and Pearl River counties.

“Most drivers were sober and buckled up,” said MHP Cpl. Johnny Poulos. “I think we’re finally getting cooperation from the public. I think they understand how important it is for drivers to make good, responsible decisions.”

No traffic fatalities occurred on state highways in South Mississippi. Poulos said a traffic death in Marshall County marked the only fatality on state highways over the weekend.

MHP’s holiday safety campaign ran from 6 p.m. Friday through midnight Sunday.

Poulos said the region’s state highways were relatively safe.

“When you think about the thunderstorms on Saturday, we did really well,” Poulos said.

However, on Sunday, traffic on Interstate 10 backed up for almost 12 miles after an accident with injuries in Hancock County. The crash around 5:15 p.m. was at Exit 12.

“That shows the amount of people who were trying to get back home,” Poulos said.

Statewide, troopers issued 5,715 citations and arrested 113 impaired drivers.

It was at least the second consecutive July 4 weekend with no traffic deaths in Troop K. A traffic death last year in Moss Point occurred outside MHP’s jurisdiction.

Posted at www.sunherald.com on July 6, 2009