Wrecks on Georgia roads killed 22 people during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, according to the Georgia Department of Public Safety.

That’s up sharply from 2019, when 12 were killed during the same period, which runs from Wednesday evening through Sunday night. And according to DPS numbers, this year’s death total is the highest since 2016, when 20 died during the Thanksgiving holiday.

“This is 22 lives too many,” the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety posted on social media. “Thank you to all the GA law enforcement who worked these tragic, fatal crashes over the Thanksgiving travel period. To GA motorists…please #buckleup, #slowdown, #drivesober and put down your phone.”

The most recent crashes were still under investigation Monday afternoon. But both alcohol and speed were believed to be contributing factors in many of the wrecks, according to Lt. Matt Riley with the Georgia State Patrol.

Speed was a likely factor in a Wednesday evening wreck that killed a 19-year-old woman from Sugar Hill, according to investigators.

Sophia Garcia was driving a Volkswagen Jetta southbound on McEver Road in Hall County when she was hit by a driver who was “exceeding the speed limit and was unable to negotiate a right-hand turn,” according to a Georgia State Patrol report obtained by AJC.com. The impact sent Garcia, who was only wearing a lap belt, into a guardrail. She died from her injuries.

According to investigators, the odometer of the Toyota Corolla that struck Garcia’s Jetta was stuck at approximately 65 mph in a 45-mph zone. The crash remains under investigation. The driver of the Corolla and a passenger were also injured, according to the GSP.

In metro Atlanta, fatal crashes were also reported in Gwinnett, DeKalb, Fulton, Clayton and Paulding counties, according to the DPS. Troopers and local investigators also investigated deadly crashes in Americus, Thomasville, Peach County, Milledgeville, Richmond County, Madison, Dublin, Tifton, Gainesville, Washington and Waycross.

From 2014 to 2019, 92 people died in crashes on Georgia roads during the Thanksgiving holiday. The recent deaths bring the total to 114.

The coronavirus pandemic led to fewer travelers for many of the holiday weekends earlier in 2020.

During this year’s Memorial Day weekend, crashes killed 15 people on Georgia roads, down slightly from 2019. Crashes killed 13 people over the three-day Fourth of July weekend this year, a 50% drop from 26 killed during that holiday stretch in 2019, when Independence Day fell on a Thursday and people had a longer break, according to the State Patrol.

But over this year’s three-day Labor Day weekend, car crashes killed 19 people, more than doubling the number of deaths during the 2019 holiday.

— Please return to AJC.com for updates.