SOUTH POINT - The Labor Day Weekend has come and gone and while many were enjoying the holiday, the Ohio State Highway Patrol hit the roads in force to protect motorists.

"Overall it was a good weekend for us," Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. Carl Roark said.

There were no fatal crashes in the county during the weekend. Roark said that Lawrence County had an average number of crashes for the Labor Day weekend, although the crashes were down slightly. There were 10 crashes, six of the 10 were injury crashes and two were deer related crashes.

Statewide there were 16 fatalities, and Lt. Roark said that one occurred in the Highway Patrol's district, but not in Lawrence County.

The highway patrol made 11 driving while intoxicated arrests over the weekend, with a total of more than 500 tickets issued.

"The weekend was a success based in a reduction in crashes in the Lawrence County Area," Lt. Roark said. "However, from the number of people issued citations for not wearing their safety belt, it is evident that we have work to do in that area."

Lt. Roark said that they continue to educate the public by going into the schools, enforce zero tolerance - no warnings for not wearing safety belt - and get the message out by using billboards, TV ads and other public information methods to remind people the importance of wearing their safety belt.

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