COLUMBUS, Ohio — It was a busy travel weekend throughout Ohio as cars packed the roadways for the Thanksgiving holiday, but the increased traffic also saw multiple deadly crashes and hundreds of arrests.
From Nov. 24-28, troopers with the Ohio Highway Patrol reported a total of 14,688 traffic incidents throughout the state – including 10 deadly crashes that claimed the lives of 13 people.
Of those deaths, authorities say one was a pedestrian, four were not wearing a seat belt and three involved impaired driving. Three of the deadly crashes happened in Northeast Ohio with two in Cuyahoga County and one in Portage County.
By comparison, here’s how many traffic deaths were reported in the previous three years:
- 2020: 11 deaths
- 2019: 18 deaths
- 2018: 7 deaths
Troopers also arrested 300 people for operating a vehicle while impaired and 147 for drugs during the same time period. Citations were issued for 669 seat belt violations with 106 citations given for distracted driving. Finally, troopers also assisted 1,822 motorists throughout the five-day period.
The counties with the most traffic-related incidents during the Thanksgiving holiday travel period from Nov. 24-28 were:
- Portage: 460 incidents
- Franklin: 407 incidents
- Mahoning: 384 incidents
- Richland: 362 incidents
- Warren: 344 incidents
- Montgomery: 337 incidents
- Pickaway: 327 incidents
- Marion: 297 incidents
- Greene: 296 incidents
- Summit: 295 incidents
You can explore the Ohio State Highway Patrol's full traffic report from Nov. 24-28 in the document below:
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