T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Traffic flows along local roadways as the new year begins. Provisional traffic reports are in for 2023 from the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

By ROBERT A. DEFRANK

Times Leader Staff Writer

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The New Year weekend brought a rush of traffic as motorists took to the roads to celebrate and look forward to 2024.

However. the holiday did turn tragic for some.

According to provisional reports from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, there were six fatal crashes and seven fatalities statewide during the holiday weekend Friday-Monday. Five were not wearing available seat belts.

This marks a decrease from the 13 fatalities during the same period last year.

Troopers made 3,259 traffic enforcement contacts including 272 arrests for operating a vehicle under the influence. There were 106 distracted driving citations and 409 seat belt citations across Ohio.

At the St. Clairsville post, Lt. Brian McFarland released a statement.

“Locally, we handled nine crashes with two of them being minor injury crashes. None of the crashes involved any alcohol or drugs. We issued 40 citations, 12 warnings and 51 non-enforcement stops. There was also two OVI arrests and one felony possession of drugs arrest,” he wrote. “This was a typical year and nothing out of the ordinary.”

McFarland was contacted afterward and elaborated, looking back on 2023.

“Our big concern at the end of every year is where we’re at in fatal crashes, the number of OVI arrests and what we could have done to prevent the fatal crashes. For this past year we had a total of four fatal crashes between Belmont and Monroe County – two of them where alcohol or drugs was suspected, and two were not. Hopefully moving forward, the main goal every year is to have zero. If we can arrest somebody that’s impaired, it possible can prevent a fatal crash from happening, and that’s a good thing going forward.”

One fatal crash occurred late Feb. 25 on Ohio 7 near Pinch Run Road, where a driver was believed to be intoxicated and going in the wrong direction.

Another fatality occurred May 21 on Ohio 800. McFarland said it was a single-vehicle accident and the driver of a four-wheeler was believed to be impaired when the vehicle overturned.

Another was a head-on collision occurring Nov. 14 on Ohio 331. Speed and reckless driving are believed to be contributors.

Most recently was a two-vehicle crash that occurred Dec. 22 on Monroe County Road 10 in Lee Township.

“Anytime you get a crash around the holiday, it’s hard on everybody. Everybody investigating it, handling it. It’s especially hard on the families during that time,” he said.

Moving forward into 2024, McFarland said troopers will continue to look for crash-causing violations, which include: speed, reckless driving and distracted driving. They will also continue to remove impaired drivers from the roadways and work to reduce injury crashes by enforcing the Ohio seat belt law.

The public is asked to report any dangerous or impaired drivers and drug activity by calling #677.

McFarland also noted changes in statewide laws and how they will impact enforcement on the road.

“The distracted driving law will now have a full year of status, and we continue to hopefully make a push in that area to prevent crashes from happening. We’re still kind of waiting to see where we’re going to go or how that law’s going to lay out with drug-impaired driving and the passage of the marijuana law. That’ll be an obstacle that we’ll be facing in 2024. We’re still waiting for some guidance on how we’re going to proceed with that.”

McFarland said the essentials will remain the same.

“If you’re drinking alcohol or doing drugs or smoking marijuana, if you show signs of impairment when driving or during your field sobriety test, you still can be arrested for operating a vehicle while under the influence,” McFarland said.

Kara Hitchens, public and government affairs manager for the American Automobile Association, also said that overall, the end of the year travel season went smoothly.

“There was minor disruption in airline traffic with some delays but nothing to the degree of 2022,” Hitchens said in an email. “Looking at 2023 overall, travel was up and holiday travel saw some of the highest numbers since before the pandemic. I think we can expect the same for 2024.

“For people planning to travel in 2024, AAA recommends to start early – saving, planning, booking and reserving. That way you will get the adventure you want.”