COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State Highway Patrol joined forces with other members of the 6-State Trooper Project to focus on distracted driving enforcement. During the project, 491 people were cited with distracted driving-related offenses.
Locally, Wyandot, Erie and Sandusky counties had the highest number of citations during the blitz period.
The high-visibility enforcement included the Indiana State Police, Kentucky State Police, Michigan State Police, Pennsylvania State Police, West Virginia State Police and the Patrol. The initiative began on Monday, October 5 at 12:01 a.m. and continued through Monday, October 12 at 11:59 p.m.
On October 29, 2018, Ohio passed House Bill 95, a law that broadened what is considered distracted driving, and increased the fine if it was a contributing factor to the commission of the driving violation.
Distracted driving is any non-driving activity with the potential to distract a person from the primary task of driving and increase the risk of crashing. Distractions can be visual, taking eyes off of the road; manual, taking hands off the wheel; or cognitive, taking the mind off driving.
The 6-State Trooper Project is a multi-state law enforcement partnership aimed at providing combined and coordinated law enforcement and security services in the areas of highway safety, criminal patrol and intelligence sharing.
