Harrisburg – The Pennsylvania State Police investigated 709 crashes during the four-day Memorial Day holiday weekend. Those crashes, which do not include crashes investigated by local police, resulted in five deaths and 277 injuries.

The official holiday driving period was May 23 through May 26. During that time, troopers cited 1,570 individuals for not wearing seat belts and issued citations to 250 motorists for not securing children in safety seats.

Troopers also issued 12,976 speeding citations and arrested 485 operators for driving under the influence. Of the 709 crashes investigated by State Police, 57 of those crashes, including two of the fatal crashes, were alcohol related.

During last year’s four-day Memorial Day holiday driving period, 11 people died and 242 others were injured in 754 crashes to which state troopers responded.

The statistics cover only those crashes investigated by state police and do not include statistics on incidents to which other law-enforcement agencies in Pennsylvania responded.