December 2024 traffic accidents in Varnell more than doubled December 2023’s total, according to a public safety report presented by City Council member Bob Roche during the council’s January meeting.
In December 2024 Varnell Police Department officers responded to 25 traffic accidents, with three resulting in injuries. That was up from 11 accident reports in December 2023.
Chief Kyle Moreno said the reason for the increase in the number of accidents is “unclear.”
“In (December), you do have people traveling more to visit family and there’s normally an increase in motorists on the roadways,” Moreno said. “That could be a factor, but as far as any solid analysis of why there’s more this year versus last year, I don’t have a clear answer.”
There were 139 reported traffic accidents for 2024.
Moreno said the police department spent much of the past year tracking specific locations within the city where more frequent accidents “seem to occur.”
“It’s really kind of sporadic throughout the whole jurisdiction of Varnell, but there is one known area that generally sees more accidents when the roadways are wet or we have bad weather conditions, which is on Ga. Highway 2 near Delbert Way,” he said. “There’s a lot of single-car crashes there throughout the year. When people come off the hill, they kind of lose traction or control if they’re going too fast for conditions around the curve, and a lot of times they end up going off the roadway.”
Moreno said drivers should “use more caution” when traveling through that area.
There were 11 incident reports filed in December 2024, down from the previous year’s total of 13 in December. In 2024, 199 incident reports were responded to by the police department. Moreno said those incidents typically range from thefts and “scam phone calls” to aggravated assault charges.
There were six arrests made in December 2024, doubling the previous December’s total of three. Throughout 2024, 46 arrests were made in Varnell. Four of those arrests in December 2024 were the result of DUIs, with 10 DUIs reported for the year. In December 2023 three DUIs were reported.
The number of citations issued also rose from 41 in December 2023 to 64 in December 2024, with 684 for the year.
There were 48 traffic warnings given by the police department in December 2024, down from 61 in December 2023. A total of 627 warnings were issued in 2024.