COLUMBUS — The Ohio State Highway Patrol is warning motorists heading into the Thanksgiving holiday period to follow all traffic laws, including buckling seat belts and never driving impaired.
The auto club AAA projects 1.78 million Ohioans – 61,000 more than last year – will travel by car during the holiday weekend period.
The patrol says nine people were killed in nine crashes on Ohio roads during the long holiday weekend last year. Five of those fatalities resulted from impaired drivers and six did not use seat belts.
Troopers say they will have an increased presence on Ohio’s roadways in an effort to remove impaired drivers.
Drivers will be enjoying lower prices at the pump, though still much higher than a year ago. At $2.54, today’s national gas price average is two cents less than one week ago and 40 cents more than a year ago, according to the AAA’s daily survey of gas prices.
The average price in Ohio Wednesday morning was $2.50, 10 cents lower than one week earlier but 44 cents higher than at Thanksgiving in 2016.
AAA projects 50.9 million Americans will journey 50 miles or more away from home this Thanksgiving. That’s a 3.3 percent increase over last year.
The 2017 Thanksgiving holiday reporting period begins Wednesday at 12 a.m. and ends Sunday at 11:59 p.m.