COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) – The Ohio State Highway Patrol and police across the state are always working to keep the roads as safe as possible, and now they have a new tool to help with that.
The device is called a DAX Evidence Recorder, costing about $5,000 each. The Ohio Traffic Safety Office received grant funding over the summer to buy three of them. One is being used for training, while the other two are being used in the field as well as for training.
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Since 2019, the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) has made nearly 90,000 OVI arrests with nearly 30% suspected to involve marijuana or other drug impairment.
“There’s much more to impaired driving than just alcohol,” OSHP Drug Recognition Expert Lt. Nathan Dennis said. “Drugs play a vital role in that; drug impairment is something that is an issue across Ohio’s roadways.”
Dennis showed a DAX Evidence Recorder to the safety council on Wednesday.
“It is recording how the eye responds as it’s following what is called the stimulus of the officer that is performing that evaluation,” he said.