The holidays are a time we get to spend with family and friends. Festivities often include traveling long distances to visit relatives and parties with drinking, which means that car accidents are more common during this season. In fact, the time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s has the highest number of car accidents overall, over 38 percent of which involve alcohol.
It’s no surprise then that Ohio highway patrols and local Cincinnati patrols have increased their presence during this highway season. There will likely be DUI checkpoints set up in and around Cincinnati on nights drinking is more common, and all patrols will continue to be stepped up until after New Year’s with the hopes of preventing dangerous accidents. Drivers in Ohio are urged to take extra precautions when driving, as the patrols will be on the lookout for any indications of drunk or reckless driving.
Will Increased Patrols Really Decrease Accidents?
Many drivers have expressed doubts as to the efficacy of such patrols, but so far they seem to be working. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the extra patrols on the road during the Thanksgiving holiday this year were incredibly successful. Not only were 498 arrests made for OVIs and 688 arrests made for aggressive driving, but there was also a drop in deadly accidents. While 23 people were killed accidents over the Thanksgiving holiday in 2014 and 17 were killed in 2013, only 9 people were killed in Thanksgiving weekend accidents in 2015.
In addition, the 6-State Trooper Project, a joint effort in cracking down on drunk driving between the Indiana State Police, Kentucky State Police, Michigan State Police, Ohio State Highway Patrol, Pennsylvania State Police and the West Virginia State Police, had success in early December at further lowering accident numbers. As more and more people take note of the high-visibility of the increasing state and local patrols, the Ohio State Highway Patrol hopes that accident numbers will continue to drop for a less deadly holiday season.
If these trends continue throughout the rest of the holiday season, there could be significantly fewer car accidents this holiday season—something all Ohioans would appreciate. Unfortunately, these increased patrols also mean that more drivers will face citations of all kinds, including, speeding, aggressive driving, and OVIs.
If you are cited for any traffic violation this holiday season, an experienced Cincinnati traffic attorney like Brad Groene can help you minimize the consequences whether they are simply major increases in car insurance premiums or as potentially life-changing as jail time. Call the Cincinnati traffic defense team at Luftman, Heck, and Associates right away for a free consultation on your case at (513) 338-1890. Find out how we may be able to help.
