BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Troopers with the Ohio State Highway Patrol pull people over every day for a variety of reasons.
And the most common reason, according to Lt. Jordan Schwochow of the Ohio State Highway Patrol's Wood County Post, is speeding.
Over the last year, the Ohio State Highway Patrol reported that fatal crashes were down 2.2% from 2022.
However, Lt. Schwochow says Wood County's rate of fatalities related to speeding incidents has increased, and officers are seeing a growing problem with speeding over 100 mph.
"Unfortunately in Wood County, there was an increase in fatal crashes," said Schwochow.
Schwochow said that usually the main reason for fatal crashes is speeding, and distractions within the car just add to the danger.
So far in 2024, there have already been 47 crashes related to speeding in Wood County.
“It’s a problem because when you’re going that fast, you don’t have a chance to react to what’s going on around you," said Schwochow.
Despite the decline in fatal crashes across the state, OSHP has ticketed 210 people for driving more than 100 miles per hour, with 8 of those tickets written in Wood County.
“When you’re going that fast, 100 miles per hour, it equals out to about 150 feet per second, so every two seconds you’re covering the length of a football field," said Schwochow.
In a video the highway patrol posted on social media, some of the speeds officers tracked included 126, 108 and 103 miles per hour.
And officers say it's an issue that's avoidable.
“It’s really an unsafe feeling, and it’s an unsafe condition that those speeders are putting everybody in," said Schwochow.
MORE FROM WTOL 11: