Early in 2020, a number of businesses shuttered their doors, and those who were able to started working from home. The net effect was that the roads were empty in a way that people have seldom seen — and a few drivers took advantage of the situation to put their pedals to the floor and see just how fast their vehicles can go.
Traffic is largely back to normal. However, the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) says that the speeding (along with other risky driving behaviors) hasn’t stopped.
100 or more miles per hour is becoming a common occurrence
Columbus police officer Robert Barret was quoted as saying that prior to 2020, he would encounter a driver exceeding 100 mph about once every three months or so. “Nowadays,” he says, “I’m hitting 100 mph speed almost on a weekly basis.”
This is leading to increasingly serious crashes in the state because high speeds typically lead to a higher mortality rate. There have been 1,153 fatal crashes in the state so far this year — while there were only 1,068 fatal crashes in all of 2020.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recently allocated more than $23 million in funding to improve road safety through a combination of education and enforcement. However, none of that will immediately change the situation, so drivers need to be particularly careful out there moving into the holiday season.
If you are involved in a serious crash, you have every right to expect fair compensation for expenses like medical bills as well as losses such as missed wages. Find out more about your legal options as soon as possible.