LUCAS COUNTY, Ohio — Over the last five years, there have been 225 deadly crashes in Lucas County, the fifth highest in the state of Ohio. This comprises approximately 4% of the fatal crashes across Ohio's 88 counties.
A spokesperson with the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) said their efforts to bring those numbers down will continue throughout 2024. The state patrol is cracking down on driver safety laws, and they believe their initiatives have shown a decrease in offenses, particularly when it comes to distracted driving.
In April 2023, Ohio's distracted driving law took effect. Since then, state law enforcement said distracted driving-related crashes have been occurring less often on Ohio roadways.
After Ohio's distracted driving law became enforceable in October 2023, following a six month grace period, more than 4,000 violations have been issued pertaining to distracted driving, the patrol said.
In the last five years, there have been 5,773 fatal crashes on Ohio roadways, resulting in 6,262 fatalities. The top five counties for highest fatal crashes were Franklin, Cuyahoga, Hamilton, Montgomery and Lucas Counties, according to a press release from OSHP. These five counties account for 33% of all fatal crashes in the state.
According to statistics from OSHP, more than one in four fatal crashes were a result of driving off the road. Other contributors include failure to yield the right of way, unsafe speeds, following too closely and running stop signs.
Sgt. Ryan Purpura from OSHP said the public will continue to see the presence of troopers on the roadways, as the patrol takes the safety of the roadways very seriously.
"We will continue to look for those impaired drivers and get them off our roadways," Purpura said. "We will continue to look for people using electronic devices illegally, and we'll look for speeding violations."
Purpura said in addition to law enforcement efforts, drivers must take responsibility for their actions to keep roadways safe.
"We really need that commitment from the motorist themselves. We can't do it ourselves, we can't enforce ourselves out of all of these types of violations, but we will certainly look for them in an effort to keep everyone safe," he said.
The public is encouraged to call #677 to report reckless or impaired drivers.
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