Drive Sober Campaign Kicks Off With North Canton Support

Stark County residents can see how many crash victims have lost their lives at the hands of drivers impaired by drugs or alcohol by looking at the Stark County Traffic Crash Memorial Wall.

The traveling wall, which will be on display at the Stark County Fair, contains ribbons with the names of 373 people who lost their lives in traffic accidents between 2001 and 2011.

Sharon George from Stark County Safe Communities said 44 percent — or 165 of those people — were killed in crashes involving impaired drivers. The wall is part of a Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over two-week campaign to bring more attention to the effects of driving while impaired.

OVI (Operating a Vehicle Impaired) Task Force and other countywide partners (including the North Canton Police Department) launched the campaign with a sobering account of one of their own's tragic loss. Mark Adams from the Canton City Health Department and a reservist in the U.S. Coast Guard lost his 17-year-old brother in 1987 to a traffic accident.

“My parents continue to live a life of total grief today,” Adams said. “My father says he can’t even pitch a baseball with my sons because it reminds him too much of my brother.”

North Canton Police Chief Stephen B. Wilder attended the meeting Friday.

“The campaign is an important educational tool to bring safety consciousness to the community," he said. "It is a vital mission to get it out to the community that driving impaired is still an issue and that alcohol and driving still don’t mix.”

Mark Resanovich, EMS coordinator from Aultman Hospital, told the group at the kick-off event this past Friday, “Most EMTs and others that respond to an accident scene live in the community they serve and as parents ourselves, we always wonder where are our kids and who it is when we get called to an accident.”

“I’ve seen grown men, solid as a rock, break down and cry after leaving an accident scene. At the end, you have to go clean the ambulance and it is a tough thing to clean up your son’s best friend’s blood. That’s when it hits and we see the senselessness of an OVI.”

Perry Township Police Chief Mike Pomsky also attended Friday.

“Accident victims are more than just numbers on a piece of paper," Pomsky said. "Someone’s son, daughter, husband, wife, grandchild or some other family member is somebody that we have lost.”

“Our message is, if you plan to go out and drink, plan on having a designated sober driver to get you home safely.”

George said driving while impaired can affect anyone.

"No one is immune from an impaired driver crash," she said. "It can happen to drinkers, non-drinkers, drivers or non-drivers, young or old, anyone can be affected. The solution comes from all of us."

Other activities planned include special training to bar and restaurant servers on how to spot someone who has been over-served or someone who presents a false identification. There will be checkpoints and saturation with extra patrols on the roads during the campaign.

North Canton will operate sobriety checkpoints in September. The police department will also implement its own OVI saturation hours dedicating one or two officers to OVI. Those hours will be 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. or 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.

In addition, the Canton Municipal Court will be offering an amnesty week from now through Friday. During this week only, those with outstanding OVI warrants can pay $150, plus carry out the terms of the original order and any associated jail time will be canceled, George said.

The and attended the Friday gathering and support the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign.