COLUMBUS – As massive numbers of Ohioans prepare to hit the road for a long holiday weekend, kicking off the summer travel season, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and its counterparts in five other states are preparing to step up enforcement of seat-belt laws.
The 6-State Trooper Project began Monday and continues through May 30, encompassing the Memorial Day weekend, when the auto club AAA expects more than 38 million Americans, including nearly 1.49 million Ohioans, to travel, the highest Memorial Day Travel volume since 2005, according to AAA Ohio spokeswoman Kim Schwind.
Along with Ohio’s troopers, the high-visibility enforcement effort will include the state police in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
In 2015, 473 people died in traffic crashes on Ohio’s roadways while not wearing a seatbelt, out of 776 total deaths. In the last five years, 61 percent of traffic fatalities in Ohio were unbelted, the patrol said.