Authorities say driving while drunk or high is a terrible and sometimes deadly decision. More than one-third of traffic deaths in Ohio involve alcohol-impaired drivers, which is one of the highest rates in the nation, says a new Dayton Daily News analysis of data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“The last two fatal crashes we had here in the city were both OVI-related,” said Dayton police Sgt. Gordon Cairns, who is the supervisor of the Dayton Police Department’s traffic services unit.
Through mid-September, Dayton police arrested about 370 motorists for operating a vehicle while impaired (OVI), police data show. Police made 522 OVI arrests in 2024 and 483 in 2023.
The Dayton Police Department has arrested at least 500 drivers for OVI in five of the last 15 years.
Police said 18 people have been killed this year in automobile crashes in Dayton, and right now the evidence suggests that at least five of the crashes appear to be OVI related. In just the last couple of weeks, there have been two fatal crashes where driver impairment was suspected.
On Oct. 1, 35-year-old Dayton resident Brandy Chadwell died after she was thrown from the back of a motorcycle that was traveling southbound on Harshman Road.
A suspected intoxicated driver in an SUV failed to yield the right of way when turning onto Harshman Road from the Eastwood MetroPark entrance, says an Ohio Department of Public Safety traffic crash report. The SUV collided with the motorcycle, injuring the driver and killing Chadwell.
A 31-year-old Dayton driver was killed near the same intersection in January after he lost control of his truck, swerved into oncoming traffic and collided with another vehicle. A toxicology report found he had alcohol and marijuana in his system.
Late last month, 43-year-old Dayton resident James Moody was killed after a truck ran a red light at the intersection of Smithville Road and East Third Street, T-boning Moody’s sedan and sending his vehicle off the road into a parking lot of a Domino’s pizza shop, says a traffic crash report. Authorities say they believe the truck driver was intoxicated from alcohol and marijuana.
Ohio numbers
In the first three quarters of this year, there have been about 7,080 OVI-related crashes in Ohio, according to Ohio State Highway Patrol data. The data is preliminary and could change, but that’s down about 11% from the same period last year. OVI-related crashes in the Buckeye State have declined for three consecutive years.
However, about 37% of traffic fatalities in Ohio in 2023 were alcohol-related, which was one of the highest rates nationwide, says the most recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Only Hawaii, Texas, South Carolina and Indiana had a larger share of traffic deaths that involved drunk drivers.
Every impaired driving crash is preventable, Emily Davidson, director of the Ohio Traffic Safety Office and chair of the Ohio Traffic Safety Council, said in a statement earlier this year.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
Police take intoxicated driving very seriously because it is highly dangerous and sometimes leads to tragedy, said Sgt. Cairns.
Cairns said motorists have no excuse to put lives in danger by getting behind the wheel of an automobile after drinking alcohol or taking drugs. He said there are plenty of ways to get home safely, including by hiring an Uber, Lyft or other ride-share service, or arranging for a sober friend or family member to drive.
Cairns said the problem isn’t limited to alcohol — officers routinely arrest drivers for who are impaired from illegal drugs, prescribed medications and marijuana.
Ohio legalized recreational marijuana in late 2023, and recreational sales began last year. Cairns said some motorists don’t seem to understand that while pot is legal in Ohio, driving a vehicle after using the drug is very much against the law.
“We are seeing an increase in marijuana crashes,” Cairns said.
A survey by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that more than eight in 10 cannabis users said they drive the same day as they use the drug, and slightly more than half of respondents said they sometimes consumed THC an hour or less before driving.
Community members need to formulate a plan for how they will get home safely before they drink alcohol, use marijuana or other drugs, or take medication, police say.
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