Ohio Highway Patrol will increase presence during December

MARIETTA, Ohio (WTAP) - Tis the season to celebrate, but the Ohio State Highway Patrol says it’s important to be aware of the consequences of drunk and drugged driving.

December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month, an effort to highlight what authorities say is a notable increase in the number of crashes involving impaired drivers.

According to the group “Mothers against drunk driving,” during the year of 2018, 839 deaths occurred in December alone.

That represents 29 percent of all drunk driving deaths of that year.

With that in mind, the Ohio State Highway patrol is planning an increased presence throughout December.

“Later this month, we will have extra duty details where troopers in conjunction with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office will be out looking at specific times for our impaired drivers. Which could be in the evenings. It’s typically most times, but impaired drivers could be on the roads at any time and people need to be aware of that,” says Marietta Post Commander, Lt. Chris Chesar.

The Ohio Highway Patrol says you should always have a designated driver when you go out just in case you overdo things and are too impaired to drive.

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