The Ohio State Highway Patrol will be launching a distracted driving initiative on Interstate 75 in Wood County.
The section of Interstate 75 between the Greensburg Pike overpass and the Wood and Lucas County line is being focused on to combat distracted driving. From 2015 through 2019, OSHP crash data showed this section of Interstate 75 had 2,496 crashes with 536 resulting in injuries and eight resulting in fatalities. Therefore, motorists will see an increased presence of troopers within this area in an effort to reduce crashes.
Last year, 48 people lost their lives and 7,200 were injured in 13,532 crashes as a result of distracted driving. Sending or receiving a text message takes a driver’s eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, the equivalent of driving the length of an entire football field when traveling 55 mph.
“The dangers of distracted driving are apparent to everyone, but motorists still choose to participate in this dangerous behavior,” said Lieutenant Angel Burgos, Bowling Green Post commander. “The purpose of this initiative is to bring further awareness, enforcement, and education to the problem of distracted driving.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration describes distracted driving as any non-driving activity with the potential to distract a person from the primary task of driving and increase the risk of crashing.
Distractions can be visual, taking eyes off of the road; manual, taking hands off the wheel; or cognitive, taking the mind off driving. Texting while driving is an example that results in all three types of distraction.
The public is encouraged to use #677 to report dangerous or impaired drivers, as well as drug activity. Additional crash information is available from the OSTATS dashboard.
