The Ohio State Highway Patrol has released numbers related to the Fourth of July holiday weekend from July 2 to July 5.
During the three-day period, OSHP indicated that 16 people lost their lives in 15 accidents throughout the state of Ohio – impairment was determined to be a factor in at least five of the fatal accidents. Troopers arrested 536 people for impaired driving and 368 people for drug-related charges.
Seven motorcyclists were killed – two wore helmets, five did not.
Safety belts were reported to be used in six of the fatal crashes. Belts were not used in two of the fatal crashes and one of the fatal crashes did not have seatbelts available.
In comparison, 25 people died during the same holiday weekend in 2020 – 18 of the deaths involved alcohol and/or drugs.
Stark County saw 652 OSHP incidents with one fatality. Carroll County reported 12 incidents and Tuscarawas County saw 555. Over 40,000 traffic incidents were reported.