Holiday drivers beware: Valley cops will be watching

CANFIELD

There will be an active presence by law enforcement on the roadways as Valley residents celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this weekend.

Many officers from participating agencies of the OVI (operating a vehicle impaired) Task Force gathered in Canfield Thursday morning.

“Our primary goal is to make the roadways of Mahoning County safer. We really try to do that by changing the behavior of the motoring public. We want them to make better decisions about drinking and driving,” said Scott Weamer, Canfield assistant police chief. “We accomplish all these goals by doing two things: education and enforcement.”

Weamer said from 2010 to 2014, Mahoning County experienced a 91.7 percent reduction in alcohol-related fatal crashes.

“I think those statistics mean that there are a lot of people doing the right thing. Making good decisions. But saying that, there’s still that percentage that are not making good decisions,” said Lt. Nakia Hendrix of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. “We still have lives being lost on the roadway in Mahoning County unnecessarily.”

Read more about the efforts and plans for the weekend in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.