COLUMBUS - The Ohio State Highway Patrol reported five people were killed over the Christmas holiday weekend in traffic crashes on Ohio roads, as compared with 12 people killed last year. The Patrol attributed, in part, the safer holiday weekend to no reported alcohol-related fatal crashes and the 383 OVI arrests made by state troopers; over 100 more OVI arrests than last year’s Christmas holiday. Adding to the significance of the fatality reduction was the fact this year was a longer reporting period; four days this year compared with 3 ¼ days last year. This was also the safest recent Christmas holiday reporting period. In 2002, there were also five traffic fatalities, however those deaths occurred within a 1 ¼ day reporting period.

As of December 25, 813 people have been killed in rural traffic fatalities in Ohio, as compared with 922 people killed for the same time period in 2005. The following Ohio traffic fatalities are for the weekend of December 22 – 25, 2006.

	Fatal crashes	Number killed	Number Injured
State/Federal Highways	1	1	5
County Roads	2	2	0
City Streets	0	0	0
Interstate highways (inside cities)	1	1	3
Interstate highways (outside cities)	1	1	0
Ohio Turnpike	0	0	0
Totals	5	5	8

Alcohol Use Information

	# Fatal Crashes
Alcohol in use	0
Alcohol not in use	3
Alcohol use unknown	2

Safety Belt Information

	Number killed
Safety belts in use	1
Safety belts installed but not used	4
Safety belts not installed	0
Pedestrian	0
Motorcycle	0
Other type vehicle	0
Unknown	0

As a reminder, motorists can call toll-free 1-877-7-PATROL to receive highway help, report suspicious activity, or advise troopers of disabled vehicles.

Map of fatal crashes by county (.pdf)

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