OSHP reports eight fatal traffic crashes over labor day weekend

ZANESVILLE – These crashes resulted in ten fatalities. OSHP also arrested 538 drivers for OVI over the long weekend. While the ten deaths is a slight decrease from last year, the patrol believes the number is still too high.

“That’s down two fatalities from last year. Ideally, we always want that to be zero but we are glad that we were able to make it a little bit safer this holiday weekend,” Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Brice Nihiser said.

Trooper Nihiser says that ignoring the speed limit is the most common cause for severe types of crashes.

“So, with many of our fatalities and fatal accidents, unsafe speed is one of the most common contributing factors to those crashes. That’s why we remind motorists to always follow the speed limits and and to make sure that they’re wearing their seatbelts as well,” Nihiser said.

The State Highway Patrol also issued over three thousand safety belt citations over the weekend.