60 Killed in Traffic Accidents Over Thanksgiving Weekend

SACRAMENTO — Traffic collisions claimed the lives of 60 people statewide over the Thanksgiving holiday, the highest number in nearly a decade, the California Highway Patrol reported Monday.

The number is up from the 53 who died last year and the 47 who died in 2003, CHP spokesman Tom Marshall said. It was the highest number since 1996, when 63 people died on California roads during Thanksgiving weekend. The CHP defines the holiday weekend as 6 p.m. Wednesday to midnight Sunday.

Marshall said 28 of the 47 people who died in crashes investigated by the CHP were not wearing seat belts. "You know a bunch of people would be alive today if they had just buckled up," he said.

The CHP also made 1,521 arrests for drunk driving, compared with 1,581 a year ago.