This year, the Ohio State Highway Patrol is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

For three-quarters of a century of service to people just like you, and for those who use Ohio’s roads every day, the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s goal has not changed.

The main goal of every Ohio State Highway Patrol employee has been, and continues to be, the reduction of death and injury on Ohio roadways through professional traffic enforcement and education. I’m sure for most of you, maintaining the safest possible driving environment is also your goal

You should know that over the past two years in Ohio we have reached unprecedented milestones in highway safety.

2006 was the safest year on Ohio roads in the past 70 years. Based on provisional information, 2007 looks to have been even safer. For a second straight year, Ohio's annual traffic fatality count may be at an all-time low.

Building on the positive results of last year, and not wavering in our commitment to have value for the public we serve and contribute toward safer roads and communities, at the beginning of this year every member of your local Patrol post embarked on a new commitment to be as efficient as we possibly can be to continue significantly reducing traffic fatalities and improving the quality of life in Ohio.

Foremost, we will be working every day to reduce serious traffic crashes on Ohio roads. We have established a goal of a four-year, 10 percent traffic fatality reduction in Ohio by the end of 2011.

We are also going to efficiently utilize effective traffic enforcement to apprehend criminals that utilize Ohio roads. Similar to our increased ability to identify high crash areas more effectively, the introduction of location-based information will assist us in aggressively pursuing areas of increased illegal activity.

You see, for us in law enforcement it’s not all about catching speeders and drunk drivers. We are focused on making Ohio communities safer through using professional traffic safety services to apprehend dangerous criminals who are seeking to bring negative influences like drugs or weapons in your neighborhood. Also, we remain focused on catching car thieves and returning those stolen vehicles to their rightful owners.

Criminal activity is occurring on our highways – and one of the most egregious crimes are the large shipments of illegal narcotics being transported on our public roadways that are destined to eventually wind up in our communities.

Last year, we made illegal drug seizures that totaled a street value in excess of 53 million dollars. I mention this to illustrate there are people out there who have no regard for our safety or our communities.

Some of those criminals are using vehicles, sometimes stolen, to transport illegal drugs right into our neighborhoods. Last year, state troopers recovered over 700 stolen vehicles in Ohio. We are more dedicated than ever toward our goals of preventing crashes and arresting criminals.

We are proud to serve you, and to show you how your local state troopers are doing toward making our local roads and communities safer. Visit our Web site anytime, at www.statepatrol.ohio.gov, to get a feel for how we are working for your safety 24 hours a day, seven days a week. On our Web site, we have statistical recaps, maps, and other information to help you see how we are working hard every day to make Ohio safer.

On behalf of the men and women of your local Patrol post, we certainly appreciate your commitment to safety, and as an organization we look forward to continuing to serve you.