Three sobriety checkpoints were conducted in Medina County last month as part of the national Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over yearly campaign.
Brunswick police Lt. Brian Ohlin, who heads the Medina County OVI Task Force, said the task force participated by conducting more sobriety checkpoints than usual and adding extra traffic patrols throughout the county.
“We’re trying to put the message out there in as many ways as we can,” Ohlin said.
Ohlin said the checkpoints resulted in three arrests on charges of drunken driving.
“We removed three impaired drivers from the road, and we hope we deterred many more from getting behind the wheel,” he said.
The Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign lasted Aug. 13 to Sept. 1. It’s designed to raise awareness about the risks of driving while intoxicated by cracking down on impaired drivers, Ohlin said.
Two checkpoints on Aug. 15 in Granger and Sharon townships netted two arrests in “saturation patrols” surrounding the checkpoint. More than 600 cars went through the checkpoint, resulting in citations for driving under suspension.
The third checkpoint was conducted Aug. 30 in Lodi and resulted in one drunken-driving arrest and a felony drug arrest.
Ohlin said the checkpoints are important because there have been 32 intoxication-related crashes — including three fatalities — in the county so far this year. He said intoxication was a factor in 75 crashes in 2012, including six fatalities, and 66 crashes in 2013, including one fatality.
Sobriety checkpoints are funded by federal grants and are conducted by police officers from Brunswick, Wadsworth, Medina County Sheriff’s Office, Ohio Highway Patrol and Brunswick Hills and Montville townships.
The task force conducted another checkpoint Thursday in Lodi after the campaign had ended. Ohlin said Monday afternoon he still was compiling data from the Lodi checkpoint.
Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.
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