With two-year statistics showing a rise in speed related crashes in the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s District 8, which includes the Wilmington post that generally covers Highland County, a statewide push is underway for an enhanced presence of troopers.
The state patrol said that motorists will be seeing an increasing number of troopers patrolling interstate highways, state routes and county roads in an effort to cut down on speeding.
The patrol’s District 8 consists of the nine-county region of Highland, Adams, Brown, Clinton, Fayette, Clermont, Butler, Hamilton and Warren counties.
Figures supplied by the Ohio State Patrol Statistical Analysis Unit for the 2018 to 2020 time period showed that in the seven categories that detailed crash severity, there were steady trends in one, while others were either up or down slightly.
In three other categories that detailed speeding citations, the overall number of motorists ticketed for speed showed a marked drop since 2018, while those cited for speeds 20-plus miles per hour over the speed limit and of up two 100 mph showed dramatic increases.
Speeding was the cause of death in 45 crashes in the district last year, up from 41 in 2018 and 44 in 2019, with the report showing that nearly 5,000 crashes in the state were caused by drivers exceeding the speed limit.
Serious injury caused by speeding peaked in 2018, then dropped in 2019 before rising again last year.
There was a slow rise in the number of minor injuries caused by speeding over the past two years, but the overall number of motorists where injury may or may not have been caused by speeding showed a steady decrease since 2018.
Property damage caused by speeders returned to 2018 levels last year, after decreasing somewhat in 2019.
The data showed that overall speeding citations declined in the past two years from 41,705 in 2018 to 27,679 last year, but it also showed that the number of those ticketed for excessive speed has been on the rise.
Citations issued to motorists driving 20 miles per hour or more above the posted speed limit dropped by more than 400 from 2018 to 2019, but then took a jump last year, increasing by more than 1,800.
A more frightening statistic emerged with those ticketed for doing 100 miles per hour and more over the speed limit, with the numbers in 2019 rising only slightly above 2018 figures, but then doubling in 2020.
The state patrol’s speed-related crash and citations report for OSHP District 8 was provisional and subject to change as of March 15.
Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.
