Celina, OH (3-14-25) – Mercer County Sheriff Doug Timmerman announced today that his office will have extra deputies patrolling Mercer County during the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Our office will once again be participating in the St. Patrick’s Day Blitz as part of a grant through the Ohio Traffic Safety Office (OTSO), from March 14th to the 17th.

We will have deputies assigned to specific areas around the county to have an increased traffic visibility. They will be looking for impaired, aggressive and criminal-based drivers, as well as distracted drivers and seatbelt usage. The purpose of this is to reduce traffic crashes, and identify unsafe driving in Mercer County.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, St. Patrick’s Day is one of the deadliest days on our nation’s roads. Please do not become a statistic – Designate a sober driver and never let your friends and family drive if they have been drinking!

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), St. Patrick’s Day is recognized as one of the deadliest days on U.S. roads, largely due to a significant increase in alcohol-impaired driving fatalities. The NHTSA tracks data over the St. Patrick’s Day holiday period, typically defined as 6:00 p.m. March 16 to 5:59 a.m. March 18. Between 2017 and 2021, 272 people were killed in drunk-driving crashes during this timeframe. In 2021 alone, 47 fatalities were reported, with 41 of those occurring at night (6:00 p.m. to 5:59 a.m.), highlighting the heightened risk during late hours when celebrations are most active.

The trend persists across years, with 38% of traffic fatalities (290 out of 764) during the St. Patrick’s Day period from 2018 to 2022 involving drunk drivers. In 2022, this figure spiked to 74 drunk-driving deaths. The NHTSA emphasizes that the rate of impairment among drivers in fatal crashes is consistently higher at night on St. Patrick’s Day, driven by the holiday’s association with alcohol consumption. This makes it a particularly dangerous time, not just for drivers but also for pedestrians and other road users, especially in areas with events like pub crawls or parades.