T-L Photo/CARRI GRAHAM Ohio State Highway Patrol Sgt. Joe Weaver stands beside his cruiser outside the St. Clairsville Post. The OSHP conducted a program this past weekend to curb distracted driving on Interstate 70 in Belmont County.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — In an effort to reduce distracted driving on Interstate 70, the Ohio State Highway Patrol took to the sky.

The aviation unit from Columbus and troopers with the St. Clairsville Post participated in the TRIAD initiative on Friday in Belmont County. The name of the driving enforcement detail stands for Targeting Reckless, Intimidating, Aggressive and Distracted driving. The aviation unit includes 16 uniformed flight crew personnel members, three helicopters and 14 airplanes.

Lt. Maurice Waddell, commander of the St. Clairsville Post, said due to a high number of vehicle crashes and traffic violations that have taken place on the stretch of highway between milepost 208 at Morristown and milepost 220, County Road 214, the OSHP made the decision to conduct the mission.

“Something that helps us, we have aviation, so we’re going to use that to help us target that area,” Waddell said.

Five troopers and a pilot, who is also a trooper, participated in the mission from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday on a portion of Interstate 70. The Ohio Department of Transportation measured out the zone, painting white lines on the berm every quarter of a mile. The patrol aircraft then flew over the stretch of highway during the mission and used a stopwatch to time vehicles through the zone to calculate and determine the motorists’ speed. The pilot was in constant contact with the road units during the mission, Waddell said, and alerted troopers when a driving infraction was committed.

“Once they get a violation, the pilot makes contact with the road units. He’ll usually tell us, ‘I’m tracking one right now through the zone,'” Waddell said. “He stays with it (the vehicle) the entire time, then he’ll tell us which one it is. As soon as we get behind it, he’ll tell us we got the right one. We stop it, and he confirms it was the right one.”

The speed limit through most of the surveyed area is 65 mph and increases to 70 mph in western portions of the zone. Waddell said the troopers concluded that the average speed traveled on the interstate was 88 mph on Friday.

“The total number of stops from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. was 46 and there was 29 enforcement contacts. I think the highest speed was 96 mph, and we had zero crashes during that time,” he said.

The 29 infractions included citations for speeding, a motorcycle enforcement contact and two commercial enforcement contacts with semi trucks, Waddell said. The OSHP will utilize the aviation unit randomly throughout the year; however, this mission was planned out a month in advance to target the interstate and distracted driving, he said.

“It’s always the same thing that contributes to these crashes — distracted driving, speed and safety belt usage. And also, those three things, along with impaired driving. Those are all attributed to our fatal crash numbers in the area this year and in Monroe County,” Waddell said.

There have been 13 fatal crashes this year in Belmont and Monroe counties. Five have occurred in Monroe, while eight have occurred in Belmont County. Seven of those fatalities have occurred within the past five months, Waddell noted.

“You always see common themes with a lot of them — no safety belt usage, impaired driving, things of that nature. Every time you increase your speed, the crash is going to be worse, the injuries are going to be worse,” he said.

Although there have been a high number of vehicular crashes this year, the number of injury crashes is actually lower than last year. Across both counties, there have been 849 injury crashes thus far this year compared to 904 injury crashes in 2018.

“They (residents) definitely need to watch their speed. Don’t have any distractions while they’re driving, and wear a safety belt,” Waddell stressed.