By Kimball Perry
Cincinnati Enquirer
CINCINNATI, Ohio — A cooperative effort has helped drivers slow down in Cincinnati, resulting in fewer deaths.
That is the conclusion of a two-year analysis conducted by Cincinnati police and the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
“Cincinnati has really taken the lead, in my opinion,” said Col. Richard H. “Butch” Collins, superintendent of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
He was in town Wednesday with Cincinnati Police Chief Tom Streicher to brag about the new cooperation their departments share.
Prior to 2005, only Cincinnati police patrolled city streets and the Highway Patrol worked in areas outside the city.
But when statistics showed that the bulk of car crashes were in cities, Cincinnati police decided they wanted state troopers to help on Colerain Avenue and other state highways within city borders.
“People are slowing down,” Cincinnati Police Capt. Dan Gerard said Wednesday.
The programs target speeders, aggressive drivers, tailgaters, high-speed-lane changers, seat-belt violators and overweight and recklessly driven tractor-trailers.
Since July 2006, when the average rate of speed for those caught “was in the 80s,” Gerard said, that has dropped almost 8 mph.
That means safer roads, fewer deaths, injuries and crashes.
“People are very much in control of their destiny when they drive,” Streicher said.
“Last year, Ohio had the safest (traffic) year ever since those statistics have been kept” for more than 70 years, Collins said.
Streicher admitted the tough reputation of state troopers was as important as their presence inside the city. It also helped when drivers learned state troopers were using motorcycle police and an airplane to catch speeders.
Included in that overall program the last two years has seen a special 11-week initiative that ran from October until Christmas.
The 2007 initiative that ended Dec. 23 resulted in 299 drunken-driving arrests, 110 other arrests and large cuts in crashes and traffic deaths.
Now, the Ohio State Highway Patrol wants to expand the program to other parts of the state and Cincinnati police want to expand the program within city limits.
Streicher and Collins presented an analysis of the two-year program Wednesday to the Hamilton County Chiefs of Police Association hoping to expand the program throughout the county and the region.
Copyright 2008 The Cincinnati Enquirer