(Toledo, OH) Today is expected to be one of the busiest travel days of the year.
AAA reports nearly two million Ohioans will travel 50 miles or more for the Thanksgiving holiday, an increase of more than three-percent over last year.
Expect to see a heavy presence of police and state troopers on those roads, enforcing seat belt violations, distracted and drunk driving. Because traffic congestion is expected to get worse through Friday, Ohio highway patrol troopers will increase enforcement efforts.
There were 15 deadly wrecks during the Thanksgiving holiday travel season in Ohio last year, nine those involving alcohol. Six people in those crashes were not wearing seat belts.
An investigation is underway into a deadly crash in Waterville. Police say 24-year-old Omar Saleh was killed Tuesday night when his car went off U.S. Route 24 near Fallen Timbers and overturned. Alcohol doesn't appear to be a factor in the crash, but Saleh was not wearing a seat belt.
There is some good news for holiday travelers who will head south on I-75. ODOT hopes to have the U.S. 224 ramps open in Findlay by noon today, after striping the interstate all night and moving concrete barriers. ODOT officials say there will be another shift in the southbound lanes of the I-75 widening project in early December.