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COLUMBUS — Officials from the Ohio State Highway Patrol are reminding drivers to not get behind the wheel impaired this Labor Day weekend during what historically has been one of the most deadly times of the year in terms of drunk-driving fatalities in the U.S.
Troopers and other area law enforcement will spend extra hours patrolling roadways and removing impaired drivers. Impaired drivers will be arrested, Patrol Superintendent Colonel Paul A. Pride warned.
“The Ohio State Highway Patrol will be out in full force this holiday weekend,” he said. “You may think you aren’t drunk, but law enforcement will know you are. Law enforcement officers’ skills in detecting and identifying drunk drivers have never been better.”
Troopers encourage motorists to do their part to keeping the roadway safe — remember to designate a sober driver if you plan to consume alcohol.
During last year’s four-day holiday reporting period, Sept. 4-7, 14 people lost their lives on Ohio’s roadways. That includes seven people in impaired driver crashes.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were 9,967 people killed in drunk-driving crashes nationwide in 2014, making up nearly one-third of all traffic fatalities that year.
The 2016 Labor Day weekend reporting period begins Friday, Sept. 2, and ends Monday, Sept. 5 at 11:59 p.m. OSHP will be reporting statewide, provisional fatalities each morning on Facebook, Twitter and statepatrol.ohio.gov.
Motorists are encouraged to continue using #677 to report impaired drivers and drug activity.