Highway patrol units in three states will launch a weekend crackdown on impaired drivers starting tonight at midnight.
Increased patrols over the weekend will focus on I-70 from Pennsylvania, through Ohio and Indiana.
Officials say they want to “reduce unsafe driving behaviors,” and they’ll be on the lookout for seat belt violations, aggressive driving and impaired motorists.
Ohio State Highway Patrol Superintendent Colonel Paul Pride states in a press release that the “Patrol takes the crime of impaired driving seriously [and] impaired driving is a crime that puts innocent people’s lives in danger.”
Statistics released by the Patrol show that “from 2009 to 2013, there were a total of 61 fatal crashes on I-70 in Ohio, including 14 that involved an impaired driver.”
Three of nine fatal crashes this year on I-70 have involved and impaired driver.
The crackdown is in line with efforts of the Six-State Trooper Project that includes the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Kentucky State Police, Indiana State Police, Pennsylvania State Police, West Virginia State Police and the Michigan State Police.
