The bipartisan resolution designates the first Sunday after Thanksgiving as “Drive Safer Sunday” and encourages an increased focus on safety while driving

In Georgia, there were 23 traffic crash deaths during the 2023 Thanksgiving holiday period

In addition to fatal crashes, there were 560 traffic crashes statewide, resulting in an additional 250 injuries

From 2017 to 2023, 82 Georgians were killed in traffic crashes during the Thanksgiving holiday period and there was a total of 16,171 traffic crashes reported that resulted in 5,727 injuries

Senator Reverend Warnock: “The Thanksgiving holiday should be a time celebrated with those closest to you, and this resolution supports and uplifts driving safety around the holiday so that families can safely be together”

Washington, D.C. – Last week, U.S. Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) passed the bipartisan Drive Safer Sunday Resolution. The legislation encourages Americans to exercise greater caution in their holiday travels during a period of historically increased traffic incidents and fatalities and designates the Sunday after Thanksgiving as “Drive Safer Sunday”.

“The Thanksgiving holiday should be a time celebrated with those closest to you, and this resolution supports and uplifts driving safety around the holiday so that families can safely be together,” said Senator Reverend Warnock. “Community safety on our streets is a group effort, which is why I urge Georgians and all Americans to exercise an increased effort for safe travel amid the busy holiday season.”

“The Sunday after Thanksgiving is one of the busiest—if not the busiest—travel day in our country,” Senator Capito said. “Our resolution encourages everyone that will be on our roads to drive carefully because safety is and will always be my top transportation priority.”

“We appreciate Senators Warnock and Capito for their bipartisan resolution that recognizes the Sunday after Thanksgiving as Drive Safer Sunday to promote road safety, especially this holiday weekend – which is one of the busiest travel periods of the year,” said Susan and Steve Owings, Co-Founders of Road Safe America and Board Members for the Institute for Safer Trucking. “Our son, Cullum, was killed as he and his brother were returning to college on December 1, 2002, the Sunday after that Thanksgiving, in a crash that would have been avoided if safety technology available today, like automatic emergency braking, had been on the big-rig that hit them.  We hope that Drive Safer Sunday will encourage today’s motorists to be particularly careful and alert to traffic dangers and that their focus will continue throughout the holidays and beyond.”

First introduced in 2005, this resolution has historically been a bipartisan effort led by one of Georgia’s U.S. Senators. The effort was started by Steve and Susan Owings, board members of the Institute for Safer Trucking from Atlanta, whose son Cullum was tragically killed in a truck crash after returning to college from their family Thanksgiving in 2002. Since Cullum’s passing, Steve and Susan Owings have advocated for safer trucking and have worked with Georgia’s Congressional delegation to introduce this resolution. As a member of the U.S. Senate committee overseeing the nation’s transportation policy, transportation safety will always be a priority for Senator Warnock.

The resolution text can be found HERE.

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