Ohio Holiday Traffic Advice

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Mother nature struck just in time to make Christmas weekend traveling more dangerous and even deadly for some motorists here in Ohio.

Ohio State Highway Patrol Public Affairs Unit Sgt. Phillip Rutherford shared the statewide holiday weekend traveling statistics and what motorists might expect for the New Years weekend.  

“This weekend was a rare occurrence in our holiday reporting periods. We had a horrible blizzard come through. We had white-out conditions all through the state and unfortunately we saw seven fatal crashes and 13 people lost their lives,” Rutherford said.

Although weather conditions are forecasted to improve for New Year’s weekend, Rutherford anticipates a high travel volume and noted that motorists should always prepare their vehicle, plan their trip and be patient when traveling.

“Even if it’s raining this weekend, you need to increase your following distance and increase your stopping distance,” Rutherford said. “And again that goes along with having your vehicle prepared. Make sure your tires are ready to drive on. Make sure they’re not bald, what we call bald tires. If your vehicle’s ready, if your wipers are ready, if your windshield is clean on the inside and outside, it’s going to make you safer and make you be able to see people better. Make you be able to see what’s in front of you better.”

The Ohio State Highway Patrol announced there were seven crashes over the 2022 Christmas reporting period that resulted in 13 deaths. That number has increased from 10 crashes that caused 10 deaths during the 2021 holiday reporting period.