Ohio troopers increased DUI arrests last year

CLEVELAND (AP) - The Ohio State Highway Patrol attributes a crackdown on drunken driving to the increase in arrests for the offense statewide last year.

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reports that troopers in 2012 arrested 24,520 suspected drunken or impaired drivers. That was a 3 percent increase over 2011.

Also in 2012, crashes that involved drunken drivers numbered 12,168 — a 14-percent increase over the previous year. In those crashes, 431 people were killed and more than 7,000 were injured.

The patrol says drunken or impaired drivers were responsible for more than 40 percent of all fatal accidents in 2012.