COLUMBUS, Ohio — A record-breaking number of people traveled over the holiday weekend, with nearly 61 million drivers on the road traveling for the Fourth of July, according to AAA.
With increased traffic on the roads comes an increased chance of car collisions. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, 16 people died across the state in 15 different crashes between midnight on Wednesday, July 3 and Sunday, July 7.
This includes one fatality from a crash in Wood County that injured four and one fatality from a crash in Fulton County that killed a Michigan man and injured three others.
The 2024 data showcased an increase from last year, which peaked at 12 fatalities during the Fourth of July reporting period. In total, state troopers responded to 648 traffic crashes, compared to last year which saw 255 crashes.
Data from OSHP indicates that safety belts were not used in at least seven of the fatal collisions and at least three of the collisions involved drivers hitting a pedestrian.
OSHP notes that Ohio’s safety belt law remains a secondary violation for those caught breaking it. Troopers are said to have had a zero-tolerance policy during the holiday reporting period when motorists were stopped for other violations and were found not wearing their safety belts. Troopers issued nearly 3,000 safety belt and child safety seat citations over the weekend, according to OSHP.
Troopers also made an increased number of arrests, with 438 arrests for impaired driving, 72 arrests for drug-related charges and 1,368 citations for distracted driving. In comparison, distracted driving citations went up 2343% this year with only 53 citations being issued in 2023. Arrests for impaired driving and drug-related incidents went up from 138 incidents (217%) and down from 98 incidents (-26.5%), respectively.
OSHP responded to 25,936 road-related incidents across the state, with the Wood County post of OSHP responding to 780 incidents in northwest Ohio, making it the sixth most active county across the state over the weekend.