Officials are especially focused on impaired driving, as 39 people have died in traffic crashes in Ohio during the past three Labor Day weekends. Last year, there were also 860 injuries in 1,907 crashes during the three days.
“With the holiday weekends, more people are traveling and more people are celebrating,” said Kristen Castle, a spokesperson for the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services. “It’s a good time to remind people to get a sober driver, plan ahead and make sure you get home safely.”
The holiday weekend will end the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-led “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” drunk driving awareness campaign, which runs from Aug. 17 through Monday. After an increase in drunk driving-related deaths in 2010 — from 420 to 478 — Ohio’s number dropped to 414 last year, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Of those, 27 drunk driving-related deaths happened during the six holiday periods last year. From 2007 to 2011, about 40 percent of traffic fatalities involved alcohol impairment.
Aside from the holiday enforcement efforts, OVI (Operating a Vehicle while Impaired) task forces in the region have increased their arrest rates this year. The groups in Butler, Montgomery and Clark counties receive funds from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services to operate OVI checkpoints and pay officers for overtime patrols in known trouble areas.
Through the first nine months of their operating year (which begins Oct. 1), the three task forces made an average of 29.4 OVI arrests per month, either at checkpoints or with overtime patrols. That was an increase from 27.1 arrests per month the previous year.
OVI task force officials said they hope their greatest effect is on awareness, not in arrests.
“We tell people when we’re having a (checkpoint) and the vicinity, but people still get in their cars (impaired) and drive,” said Carlene Maynes, coordinator of the Montgomery County OVI Task Force. “It’s kind of amazing.”
Officials stressed that the end of the official “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign will not end their attention to impaired driving. The task forces will continue operating throughout the year, although all law enforcement will be on alert for suspicious driving during the next three days.
“Labor Day tends to be the end of summer, so people are trying to be outside, and that means there’s a greater risk for becoming a victim of impairment or drinking and driving,” said Anita Biles, coordinator of the Clark County OVI Task Force. “It’s another reason to remind people to find options for getting home.”
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