145 Vehicles Pass Through Wayne County OVI Checkpoint on State Route 57
WOOSTER, OH — A total of 145 vehicles passed through an OVI checkpoint conducted Friday night on State Route 57 in Wayne County, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Lieutenant James A. Walton, commander of the Patrol’s Wooster Post No. 85, said two vehicles were diverted from the checkpoint for additional investigation.
The checkpoint was conducted from 8 to 10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21, by the Ohio State Highway Patrol in cooperation with the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, Orrville Police Department and Ohio Department of Transportation.
The federally funded operation was organized to deter and intercept impaired drivers. Nearby saturation patrols were also conducted as part of the effort to identify impaired motorists and reduce serious injury and fatal crashes.
Before the checkpoint, Walton cited provisional statewide statistics showing that 10,119 OVI-related crashes occurred in Ohio last year, killing 539 people.
“State troopers make on average 25,000 OVI arrests each year in an attempt to combat these dangerous drivers,” Walton said. “OVI checkpoints are designed to not only deter impaired driving but to proactively remove these dangerous drivers from our roadways.”
Wooster Post Part of a Patrol Tradition Dating to 1933
Friday’s checkpoint continued a public-safety mission that traces its roots to the creation of the Ohio State Highway Patrol more than nine decades ago.
The Ohio General Assembly established the Patrol in 1933 as automobile travel and traffic fatalities were rapidly increasing across the state. More than 5,000 people reportedly applied to join the new agency, with approximately 125 applicants selected for its first training class at Camp Perry along Lake Erie.
Colonel Lynn Black, the Patrol’s first superintendent, opened the training school on Oct. 3, 1933. Cadets trained under difficult conditions and learned skills that included operating motorcycles, which were expected to play an important role in early highway enforcement.
The Patrol’s first class of 60 uniformed officers was sworn into service on Nov. 15, 1933. As the agency expanded, posts were established throughout Ohio to provide consistent traffic enforcement and crash response along the state’s growing highway system.
The Wooster Post became the center of Patrol operations in Wayne County, where troopers cover a mixture of heavily traveled highways, rural roads, agricultural areas, villages and growing communities. Those roadways include U.S. Route 30 and numerous state routes, including routes 3, 57, 83, 94, 226, 241, 302, 539, 585 and 604.
Today, Wooster Post troopers continue to enforce traffic laws, investigate serious and fatal crashes, remove impaired drivers from the road and assist stranded motorists throughout Wayne County.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Wooster Post is located at 1786 Dover Road in Wooster.
