Friday, August 13, 1999
Cruisers prowl accident-prone I-71
Road work makes zone dangerous
BY DAVID ECK
Enquirer Contributor
LEBANON — Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers have a message for drivers in the Interstate 71 construction zone from Ohio 48 north to the Clinton County line: We're watching you.
Since Aug. 1, troopers have increased their presence along the construction zone, aggressively enforcing speed limits and other traffic laws to increase safety.
Figures for the first 10 days show it's helping.
“Basically, it's gone from two accidents per day average to one crash per day,” said Highway Patrol Lt. Scott Borden.
The 14-mile stretch is particularly busy as it runs to such tourist destinations as Para mount's Kings Island, The Beach Waterpark and downtown Cincinnati, Lt. Borden said. Traffic between Cincin nati and Columbus adds to the crunch.
The construction, along with the traffic volume, increased the number of crashes.
“(Traffic) was increasing and the severity of (accidents) was increasing,” Lt. Borden said. “We just didn't want the escalation to continue. We just wanted to try to put a halt to it.”
Since construction started in spring, there have been 11.1 crashes on Fridays in the area, a higher number than usual. And the number of accidents from May to July was up 117 percent over the same months in the previous five years.
“It's to make an impact,” Lt. Borden said. “If we could send troopers out there every day and write zero tickets and nobody crashed, that would be really good.”
In addition to regular patrols, a trooper is specifically assigned to the area from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week. Troopers also spend overtime hours each month working the construction zone.
Since Aug. 1, they have made contact with 339 motorists and issued 264 citations. Ticketed drivers are hit especially hard because they can face doubled fines for speeding in a construction zone, Lt. Borden said.
The enforcement effort will be evaluated at the end of each month and is expected to continue until the construction is finished later this year.
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