New Philadelphia, Ohio - Officials from the local State Highway Patrol Post have finished tallying the numbers from their New Year’s reporting period, and they say they’re pleased with the results. 

Post commander Lt. Mark Glennon says they responded to 17 traffic crashes between midnight Friday and 11:59 p.m. on January 1st, which is down from 24 during last year’s four-day reporting period.

“Our crashes came down, and we even added an extra day as compared to last year,” he says. 

Glennon says troopers also made 93 enforcement stops and arrested seven impaired drivers, up from 42 enforcement stops and four OVI arrests during the last year’s holiday reporting period. He says overall, they’re considering it a successful campaign.

“The way that I measure it is the crashes that we handled. We did not have any severe crashes during the reporting period. Also, for the enforcement that we had as far as OVI arrests and anything else that kept our roads safe,” he says.

Glennon says they do not believe the windy weather on New Year’s Eve played a role in any of this year’s crashes although he says they did respond to several calls about fallen trees. 

Statewide, troopers responded to 11 traffic fatalities and made 6,040 traffic enforcement stops during the New Year’s reporting period. Of the fatal crashes, six were the result of not wearing a seat belt and four were OVI-related. Of the enforcement stops, 448 were OVI arrests, 231 were drug arrests and 952 were for seat belt citations.