State PD: 15K tickets, 215 DWI over Thanksgiving

New York State Police said this week  that troopers issued more than 15,000 traffic tickets and made 215 drunken-driving arrests over Thanksgiving weekend. 

The numbers were slightly down from 2017 figures, when 15,360 tickets were written and 242 arrests on driving while intoxicated charges, troopers said. 

The holiday crackdowns are funded by the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee. 

"As part of the enforcement, troopers also targeted speeding and aggressive drivers across the state," the department said in a statement released Friday.

This year's operation resulted in 5,834 speeding tickets, 774 citations for distracted driving, 485 seat-belt violations, and 218 tickets for failing to adhere to the state's "move over" law, which requires motorists to change lanes to avoid stopped police vehicles.

Troopers carried out the operation between Wednesday, Nov. 21, and Sunday, Nov. 25.