Sheriff’s Office Stresses Labor Day Weekend Driving Safety

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- Labor Day is this upcoming Monday, and with the Labor Day weekend approaching people are preparing to make the most of summer’s last unofficial official weekend.

The feeling that the dog days of summer are gone and the warm weather is fleeting can cause people to celebrate a little more than any other weekend. 

“Well I think people get maybe they feel like there’s a rush, like you know ‘hey, this is kind of our last big fling of the summer, so let’s really make it something special’, and we’ve got first weekend of college football, so there’s a lot of events going on,” Jeff LeCocq, Captain at Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office stated.

This means traveling may be a little more dangerous with an increased frequency of drivers driving under the influence, and the Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office wants to remind drivers to be safe this holiday weekend. 

“We just want to put out a good reminder for everyone to be aware of operating a vehicle under the influence, or operating a boat under the influence -as this is the last big weekend of summer, make sure you have a designated driver. If you’re going to be hosting a party you should have a plan in place to not let people leave from your home that are under the influence of alcohol, and when you are driving just remember those good safety practices of distracted driving, don’t text and drive, wear your seatbelt, allow a little extra distance -stopping distance with you and the car ahead of you. Things of that nature,” LeCocq said.

This year, the sheriff’s office isn’t expecting a huge increase in traffic after last year’s lockdowns and expects numbers to be similar to last year as opposed to a normal non-pandemic year. After Labor Day weekend, Captain LeCocq expects the next big travel event to occur as we head into the holiday season in November where we’ll have to take winter weather into account as well.