CLEVELAND, OH – There are approximately 7,000 vehicles in the Ohio fleet, ranging from sedans to snowplows, and thousands of accidents are caused by state drivers, according to the Web site www.newsnet5.com. The ‘Our 5 On Your Side’ investigative team reviewed state records and hundreds of driver histories, finding everything from speeding to drunken driving convictions and thousands of accidents caused by drivers of state vehicles. The investigation found almost 3,000 accidents involving state vehicles in the past two years. The vast majority of those accidents, 83 percent, were caused by state drivers. Repairs alone cost taxpayers $1.2 million. At the Ohio Turnpike Commission, NewsChannel5 found 56 workers with drunken driving convictions and 193 speeding convictions.

According to Scott Roberts, who heads up Ohio Department of Risk Management, drivers will improve their performance through employee training, which has recently been implemented, and by taking defensive driving program sponsored by the National Safety Council.

The Ohio Turnpike Commission tightened its driving policies last November, according to the report. For all state agencies, there’s been a 21 percent drop in accidents and a 24 percent drop in at-fault accidents since the first of last year.