COLUMBUS – Commuters in Ohio’s largest cities will see increased law enforcement on congested, high-crash freeways beginning Monday and running through May 19, as state officials collaborate to reduce injuries and fatalities on Ohio roadways.

“Our highways are getting safer through cooperative initiatives like OhioSafe Commute,” said Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) Director James Beasley. ”We’re combining transportation improvements with targeted law enforcement to encourage drivers to slow down and make the roadways safer for all Ohioans.”

OhioSafe Commute is a joint effort by ODOT and the Ohio Department of the Public Safety. Using ODOT’s expert analysis of crash data and patterns, Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers and metro area police officers are strategically stationed in high-crash corridors to enforce safer speeds and clear crashes quickly to prevent congestion.

In 2006, OhioSafe Commute corridors experienced a drop in crashes by up to 18 percent and decreased speeds by up to 7.4 percent.

“We want to build on OhioSafe Commute’s past successes to make metropolitan interstates as safe as possible,” Major Robert W. Booker, Jr., Interim Superintendent of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, said. “Through focused enforcement and traffic safety services, along with the commitment from the motoring public to make driving safely a priority, we can reduce crashes and the associated economic impact of those crashes, to make everyone's commute safer.”

In 2006, Ohio experienced a 7 percent reduction in crashes and fatalities. Last year based on provisional data, there were 331,657 crashes in Ohio and 1,237 highway-related deaths compared to 358,127 crashes and 1,326 deaths in 2005.