SOUTH POINT – As thousands of motorists take to the roadways this Labor Day weekend, the Ohio Highway Patrol will work overtime to ensure safety for everyone.

Friday, September 01, 2000

SOUTH POINT – As thousands of motorists take to the roadways this Labor Day weekend, the Ohio Highway Patrol will work overtime to ensure safety for everyone.

Troopers will saturate the county for the next three days to allow everyone traveling the highways an opportunity to enjoy the outings of their choice and return home safely.

"This is our last big traveling holiday of the year and we want to work as hard as we can to prevent motor vehicle crashes by aggressively enforcing all traffic laws," Ohio Highway Patrol Lt. Carl Roark, said. "We will have all available manpower working the roads."

He said a federal program is providing the funding necessary to allow troopers to work overtime throughout the weekend as they work to ensure motorist safety.

"We have selected high crash areas on U.S. 52 that we will be saturating with as many officers as we can," Roark said. "We want to be as visible as we can possibly be so that people will slow down and not drink and drive. We ask everyone who is going to consume alcohol to do so responsibly."

Those who consume alcohol should have a designated driver to prevent them from drinking and driving, he added.

He said troopers will watch for motor vehicles that are following too closely, speeding and making unsafe lane changes, in addition to all other crash-causing violations.

Parents should also remember that their children are watching, too.

"We strongly encourage all parents to set the example of wearing their seat belts and in doing so, ensure their children are properly secured," Roark said.

He said well over half of the injuries involving children 18 years old and under occurred in motor vehicle crashes.

"We don’t want to see that continue to be the case," Roark said.

In addition to patrolling the roadways and ensuring motorist safety, he said the OHP is always available to assist stranded motorists.

"Our focus will be two-fold," he said. "We not only want to enforce the traffic laws and safety, but also we want to help the motorists as we make the roadways safe. Motorists should know that we are here not just to write tickets, but to assist in everything from a simple tire change to directing them to the appropriate social service agency to help in whatever they’ve been involved in."

He added that motorists should "slow down, buckle up and don’t drink and drive" during the holiday weekend.