Highway patrol cycle unit puts focus on safety

10/3/2006

Ohio Highway Patrol's motorcycle unit will help troopers from the Toledo and Walbridge posts this week by patrolling interstates in the Toledo area.

The effort began yesterday and will continue through Friday.

Troopers will focus on impaired driving and other crash-causing violations. Troopers and local law enforcement have targeted impaired and reckless drivers near Ohio's largest cities since early this summer.

In June, they focused on impaired drivers through low-manpower sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols, OhioSafe Commute, and work zone safety operations. The next month, troopers zeroed in on metropolitan outerbelt and interstate patrolling. For several months, the patrol has used highly detailed mapping to better utilize manpower.

The patrol reintroduced its six-member motorcycle unit in May after a more than 50-year absence and, in part, to combat an increase in motorcycle fatalities.