OVI Task Force to resume checkpoints

By SHELLEY TERRY - Staff Writer - sterry@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

April 28, 2009 07:39 pm

— JEFFERSON — It only takes a couple of drinks to impair a person’s driving skills, creating a potentially deadly situation.
That’s why the Ashtabula County Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence (OVI) Task Force will be on the look-out for unsafe drivers again this weekend. The Task Force was out last weekend, too.
The goal of the Task Force is to reduce the number of fatal and alcohol-related crashes.
Ashtabula County is in the Top 10 for fatal- and OVI-related crashes in Ohio.
For the first three months of 2009, there were no fatal crashes in Ashtabula County. But, on Sunday, a 28-year-old Thompson Township woman died when she was thrown from the motorcycle she was riding on Route 166 in Trumbull Township, according to Ohio Highway Patrol reports.
A truck driver turned into the path of the motorcycle, according to OHP reports.
The accident is under investigation, OHP officials said Tuesday.
OHP troopers and the Ohio Department of Transportation will join the Task Force at the upcoming checkpoints, officials said.
“We want Ashtabula County motorists to be safe,” said Sgt. Paul Dibble, OVI Task Force coordinator. “If you’re going to drink, have a designated driver or other transportation but don’t drink and drive.”
A grant from the Ohio Traffic Safety Office funds the task force.