  St. Patrick's Day Buzzed Driving Prevention Material
- March 10-17: St. Patrick's Day Campaign
- March 17: St. Patrick's Day
St. Patrick’s Day 2025 celebrations will take place across the country on and around Monday, March 17. NHTSA urges drivers to remember that drinking and driving is deadly and never an option. Join NHTSA and OTSO in sharing this message: Buzzed Driving Is Drunk Driving.
NHTSA offers themed material for St. Patrick’s Day that encourages people to not get behind the wheel after drinking and to plan for a safe, sober ride home.
Get Material Now
On behalf of the NHTSA team, thanks for your proactive support in saving lives on our highways.
- April 1-30: National Distracted Driving Awareness Month
- April 7-14: Paid Media Campaign
- April 10-14: Enforcement Campaign
Put the Phone Away or Pay is a national high-visibility enforcement campaign that runs during a specific time of the year. The campaign reminds drivers of the deadly dangers and the legal consequences of distracted driving and is supported by increased law enforcement.
Note: Put the Phone Away or Pay launched in April 2024 and replaced U Drive. U Text. U Pay.
Graphics and talking points available now!
Social media content and sample news release coming soon!
Get NHTSA Materials Here
 Cannabis Impairment Training Available for Law Enforcement
Attitudes about using marijuana have shifted in Ohio in recent years. Now that adult use non-medical marijuana is allowed under state law, there are more opportunities than ever for Ohioans to access and use cannabis. Today's forms (including edibles, flower, and concentrates) have a much higher level of THC than in the past, and law enforcement can benefit greatly from advanced training to help recognize its presence in drivers.
Advanced Cannabis Impairment Training (ACIT) is an 8-hour course that is designed to train law enforcement officers to observe, identify, and articulate the indicators of impairment related to cannabis. With the goal to reduce impaired driving incidents and crashes, participants will engage in classroom and practical instruction by Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) Instructors.
Participants must be a commissioned law enforcement officer or have attended ARIDE. Four new trainings have just been announced for 2025:
- April 16
- May 14
- June 18
- September 4
All trainings are held at the Ohio State Highway Patrol Academy in Columbus. Advance Registration is required.
Free webinar hosted by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation
Distracted driving has become a deadly epidemic on Ohio roadways. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), distracted driving killed more than 3,000 people in 2022. Almost 50% of drivers in 2024 admit to picking up their phone to read or send a text message while driving. This webinar will help employers understand the hazards, their responsibilities, and resources that are available to educate their employees while participating in April’s Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
- March 31, 2025
- 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
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CLICK HERE for the webinar flyer and registration link
MARCH 2025 TRAFFIC TUESDAY WEBINAR
Title: Driving Under the Influence of Dissociative Anesthetics: Pharmacology and Case Profiles (Ohio Bar Approval for 1.5-hr CLE Credit)
Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Time: 2:00p-3:30p Eastern
Presenters: Cassandra L. Duvall, MFS, D-ABFT-FT - Supervisor – Toxicology, Houston Forensic Science Center
Dayong Lee, Ph.D., F-ABFT - Manager – Toxicology/Chief Toxicologist, Houston Forensic Science Center
Description: Dissociative anesthetics are a class of psychedelic drugs which include Phencyclidine (PCP), ketamine, and dextromethorphan. In this workshop, attendees will learn pharmacology of main dissociative anesthetics to be considered when evaluating the effects of the drugs during impaired driving investigations. This workshop will also cover emergence and prevalence of novel dissociative anesthetics (PCP and ketamine analogs), as well as findings from the extensive case study on PCP-positive drivers in Houston over 10 years.
CLICK HERE for more information and the registration link.
APRIL 2025 TRAFFIC TUESDAY WEBINAR
Title: Cannabis and the Eyes (Ohio Bar Approval for 1.5-hr CLE Credit)
Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Time: 2:00p-3:30p Eastern
Presenter: Karl Citek, OD, PhD, FAAO - Professor of Optometry
Description: As cannabis DUI cases are on the rise, it is crucial for both prosecutors and law enforcement to understand the specifics behind cannabis impairment. A hotly discussed issue in this realm is that of the effects of Cannabis on the Eyes. This session will seek to educate both prosecutors and law enforcement on this important area. It will describe and discuss various changes to pupil responses and eye movements that can occur with cannabis impairment, including: mydriasis, rebound dilation, eyelid tremors, lack of convergence, lack of smooth pursuit, and saccadic intrusions.
CLICK HERE for more information and the registration link.
Registration Now Open for the 2025 Ohio Traffic Safety Summit
- Columbus, OH
- Registration is FREE!
- More than 20 workshops, including keynotes, and panel discussions
- Connect & collaborate with Federal, State, and Local Partners
- Explore current trends on seat belt use, distracted driving, media coverage, youthful drivers, law enforcement, pedestrian safety & more
- Ohio's first ever Traffic Safety Leadership and Service award presentations
- Ohio Traffic Safety Summit 2025 - Ohio Union at OSU
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ONIC Law Enforcement Drug Summit
- Explore topics including investigations, intelligence, digital forensics, & laboratory science.
- Columbus, OH
- May 28-29, 2025
- Registration is FREE
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CLICK HERE for the event flyer & link to register
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Ohio School Safety Summit
- Annual event aimed at school staff, mental health professionals, and first responders across Ohio.
- Columbus, OH
- June 9-10, 2025
- Registration is FREE
- https://ohioschoolsafetysummit.com/
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Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) provides officers with general knowledge related to drug impaired driving and to promote the use of Drug Recognition Experts (DRE). Officers attending this course will receive an update/refresher of Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFSTs) and must successfully pass an SFST proficiency evaluation. This training also promotes interaction with representatives from the state's prosecution community who are encouraged to attend. The instructors for this course are all Ohio DRE certified instructors.
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Prerequisite: Law enforcement officers must have had training in SFST (previously ADAP). This course is funded through an OTSO/NHTSA grant and is free for sworn Ohio law enforcement officers and prosecutors only. Tuition for out-of-state officers is $250.
- 2025 ARIDE Courses Sponsored by the DRE Program:
To register, please e-mail the corresponding e-mail address for the course.
Drug Recognition Expert Program
The Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) Program is a traffic safety program that focuses on the detection, apprehension and adjudication of drug-impaired drivers.
A DRE is a law enforcement officer highly trained to recognize impairment in drivers under the influence of drugs other than, or in addition to alcohol.
For more information and how to apply for this free training, please view the DRE Application, School Information and Requirements by clicking here.
- 2025 DRE School Training Dates:
- Oct. 20 - 30 at OSHP Academy
- Nov. 5 - 11 Field Certifications out of state
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 Vehicle crashes continue to be a leading cause of death among our youth, and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine recently voiced his support to fund driver education programs in high schools as part of his executive budget proposal. This announcement highlights the important role that schools play in fostering a traffic safety culture – creating safer passengers, safer drivers, and safer roadways for all of us.
Traffic Safety education begins in childhood, when a child first learns to buckle their own seatbelt in a vehicle. To support this, OTSO partnered with Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) and The Ohio State University to introduce a new elementary school seat belt program called “Buckle Up with Brutus”. This program is aligned with 2nd and 3rd grade curriculum standards to blend car seat safety into a fun, interactive program to promote safe choices.
- Children are best protected in a crash when they are buckled correctly in the right seats for their ages and sizes.
- Of the child passengers (age 13 and under) killed in crashes in Ohio in 2023, 44% were unrestrained.
The “Buckle Up with Brutus” program aims to educate students and families about the importance of wearing a seat belt and using a booster seat. During the presentation, a school resource officer, teacher, or other school personnel leads students in a variety of lessons and activities that are provided by OTSO free of charge. Students will also learn strategies for being a good passenger in vehicles.
OTSO will provide everything that school resource officers need to bring “Buckle Up with Brutus” to 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. Law enforcement agencies are eligible to be reimbursed by OTSO for presenting this program in schools at $20 per student. No advance training is needed for school resource officers!
CLICK HERE for more details on the reimbursement process.
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Since this program launched at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, over 4,000 students have participated and learned Brutus' seat belt boogie!
Please e-mail any questions to OTSO at BuckleUp@dps.ohio.gov.
  Crash Data Bulletins Available for all 88 Counties
Attention traffic safety educators!
Help inform your community about local-level driving trends, dangerous roads and intersections, and seat belt usage statistics.
In partnership with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, OTSO publishes 88 county-specific crash data bulletins, which are updated every 6 months.
This educational tool was designed to be used in driving schools so instructors can adapt behind-the-wheel training to their local area. But they are also available publicly for educators, Safe Communities, and law enforcement to use for presentations and to display at events. Parents of teen drivers may also find them useful for the required 50 hours of in-car practice.
The current data sheets for every county in Ohio are available HERE.
Coming soon: updated spring 2025 will be posted online in April.
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OTSO offers materials for numerous traffic safety campaigns, including impaired driving, restraint usage, distracted driving, speeding and motorcycles. Utilizing these free materials can make an impact that can reach beyond your community.
CLICK HERE to order online!
Outdated forms sent via fax or e-mail will still be accepted, but this online link will be updated when new materials are added to our inventory. More items coming soon!
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