If you traveled Lawrence County’s roads and highways over the Memorial Day weekend, you probably seen the gray cars sitting along the roadway monitoring the weekend traffic – and that’s exactly what the Ohio Highway Patrol wanted.

Thursday, May 31, 2001

If you traveled Lawrence County’s roads and highways over the Memorial Day weekend, you probably seen the gray cars sitting along the roadway monitoring the weekend traffic – and that’s exactly what the Ohio Highway Patrol wanted.

Ironton post commander Lt. Carl Roark said drivers were "well aware of our presence…that was our goal."

The reason for the heavy patrolling was simple – more troopers on the road equals fewer accidents. Roark said the intense patrolling was a major factor for a safer holiday weekend because the presence of troopers deters some of the unsafe actions drivers may take, such as speeding and drinking and driving. Troopers tried to curb accidents by citing drivers that were operating their vehicles unsafely. Troopers made 668 road arrest over the weekend, 335 of those arrest were speeding citations.

From Friday through Monday, Roark said, troopers in the county responded to nine crashes that yielded four minor injuries, a number that was down from previous years. In 2000, troopers responded to 14 crashes and in 1999, the county’s OHP post investigated 10 accidents.

Statewide,11 people were killed in traffic accidents over the holiday weekend.

According to statistics from OHP, 311 people have been killed on the state’s roadways this year. Although the numbers are high, the number of traffic deaths are down from last year. OHP shows that this time last year, 336 people were killed on Ohio’s roadways.