Cops on DUI alert for Memorial Day
ELYRIA - The Ohio Highway Patrol is continuing stepped-up road patrols that began Friday and continue through today in hopes of keeping motorists safe, and accidents down due to impaired drivers during the four-day Memorial Day weekend.
“Most weekends we`re out there with two to three units, but right now we`re out there with at least four or five,” Sgt. Paul March said. “We`re at full manpower for this. We have extra enforcement every holiday weekend.”
Unlike previous holiday periods when road patrols typically increased after dark, the weekend is seeing extra overtime being paid to put more troopers on the road from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., March said.
And while the bulk of arrests for drunken driving occur at night, troopers cited one driver for driving under the influence about 6 p.m. Sunday in Columbia Station.
“That was kind of early for them (impaired drivers) to already be out there,” March said.
Asked if troopers were seeing any marked increase in drunken driving arrests so far this weekend, March said it was tough to say, given the county`s dubious distinction of having the fifth-most drunken driving arrests among Ohio`s 88 counties in 2008.
“To be honest, in this county, it`s always high on weekends. There`s never a shortage of impaired drivers here. We`re pretty busy all year round. It`s kind of business as usual.”
According to statistics from the Ohio Highway Patrol, 835 arrests were made for operating a vehicle intoxicated in 2008 in Lorain County. The most OVI arrests (1,441) took place in Franklin County, where Columbus is located.
Some previous holiday weekends have seen 15 to 25 drunken driving arrests in the county. “This compares with anywhere from four to 12 on non-holiday weekends.”
In 2008, state troopers arrested 25,512 impaired drivers. Some 466 deaths and 9,315 injuries resulted from 15,318 OVI-related crashes on Ohio roads, according to OHP figures. From Jan. 1 through April 21 this year, Ohio Highway Patrol officers have made 7,502 arrests of impaired drivers. Some 49 people have died in 38 fatal crashes involving impaired drivers.
Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by May 25th, 2009 in Top Stories.
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