The report has tracked each state’s progress in implementing proven drunk driving countermeasures since the launch in 2006 of the Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving.
Ohio’s three stars recognized statewide use of sobriety checkpoints, automatic driver’s license revocation, and enhanced penalties for child endangering while driving under the influence. The two measures MADD said Ohio should implement statewide are ignition interlock systems — Breathalyzers that are connected to a vehicle’s ignition — for all first-time offenders and no-refusal checkpoints during which blood tests can be immediately court-ordered for anyone who refuses a breath test.
Lt. Douglas Eck with the Ohio State Patrol Dayton Post said no-refusal events have been held in Ohio, but it is not a widespread practice. Ohio is one of eight states that use interlock systems for repeat offenders but not for first-time offenders. Thirty-two states have implemented some level of first-time offender use.
Local MADD representatives announced the state’s rating at a Wednesday press event to kick off a holiday crackdown on drunk driving by the 19-agency Montgomery County OVI Task Force.
At the event, Ella Hix of Harrison Twp. shared her family’s grief over the loss of two loved ones in separate alcohol-related crashes. .
Hix joined MADD after her husband’s cousin, Michael Addy, 18, of New Lebanon, was killed by Sean Wright, 43, of Dayton in a crash on Feb. 12 on Susannah Drive in Harrison Twp. Hix said she also lost a sister in an alcohol-related crash in 2002 in Tennessee.
“Today we are still consumed by the pain and sorrow,” Hix said. “Please don’t drink and drive and end a life this way.”
According to Ohio State Highway Patrol data, OVI-related crashes resulting in injuries were down last year compared to 2009 in Montgomery, Butler, Warren, Greene and Preble counties. Miami County saw a slight increase in injury crashes in 2010. Total traffic fatalities are down 9 percent so far in 2011 compared to 2010, and troopers have arrested 934 more drivers statewide for driving impaired than this time last year.
However, OVI-related crashes that result in one or more fatalities have increased in several local counties. In Montgomery County there were 18 such crashes in 2010 resulting in 24 deaths, and to date there have been 19 fatal OVI crashes in 2011. In Greene County there were six fatal OVI crashes through the end of October compared to three last year. Other area counties have seen a decline in fatal crashes. In Butler County there were 11 fatal OVI crashes last year compared to four so far this year.
Maj. John DiPietro, spokesman for the OVI Task Force, said there were 104 OVI arrests made by their agencies through October, with 1310 total traffic citations issued. He said they also arrested 403 individuals for driving under suspension, something 50 percent to 75 percent of convicted drunk drivers continue to do, according to MADD’s report.
MADD is pushing for in-vehicle technology that will unobtrusively detect a driver’s blood-alcohol content and prevent anyone who is over the legal limit of .08 from starting the car. In 2008, at MADD’s urging, the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety entered into a $10 million agreement with the federal government to develop such a technology.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2124 or kwedell@coxohio.com.
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