The roads through Caldwell County were seemingly safe during the Thanksgiving travel period as no major crashes were reported.

Both the North Carolina Highway Patrol and Lenoir Police Department, which tend to see the majority of traffic crashes in the county, reported collisions, though none of them resulted in any fatalities or serious injuries.

“We didn’t have any fatal collisions, and that’s a great thing because we have been seeing them pretty bad here of late,” NCHP First Sgt. G.W. McClelland said. “We had some wrecks, but most of them didn’t even involve any personal injuries.”

There have been 15 fatalities on Caldwell’s roads in 2009, five of those occurring in the last two months, including four during a two-week window that also saw a number of serious head-on crashes.

LPD Master Patrol Officer Marcus Hartley said the streets and roads of Lenoir also were relatively quiet in regard to crashes.

“We had some accidents, but nothing major; we were lucky,” Hartley said. “That’s a good thing. It’s always good to get through a holiday period without anyone getting hurt, seriously injured or killed.”

Thanksgiving is one of the year’s busiest travel periods with people driving to and from various family functions and meals, taking vacations or just doing their holiday shopping.

This year’s holiday period fell during the Highway Patrol’s Operation Slowdown “No Need 2 Speed” campaign. The statewide initiative placed an emphasis on speeding, which is the leading cause of fatalities on North Carolina highways, and there were beefed-up patrols in Caldwell County to address the problem.

While the number of accidents was down, McClelland said troopers from the District 3 office serving Caldwell and Watauga counties still were busy writing citations as 218 speeding charges were issued from Wednesday to Sunday of the holiday period.

In addition, there were 10 arrests made by troopers for driving while impaired.

“There was not much of a change there,” he said. “We still had a lot of speeding charges over the holiday weekend. I’m pleased that we did not have any major accidents, but I’m disappointed that we had to issue so many speeding citations and make those DWI arrests.”

McClelland was encouraged by the fact that troopers experienced some instances where designated drivers were used to eliminate drunken driving.

“That’s always a good thing, and we’re glad to see that,” he said. “Speed and alcohol can often be a recipe for disaster.”

Impaired driving will be the focus of the next highway campaign. Law enforcement officers throughout the state will take part in the final “Booze It and Lose It” campaign of 2009. A project of the Governor’s Highway Safety Program, Booze It and Lose It kicks off Friday, Dec. 4 and continues through Sunday, Jan. 3.