More than half of every person killed on Ohio’s roads since 2019 died because of an impaired driver.
That is not a rounded figure or an estimate. It is the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s own documented conclusion: since 2019, alcohol and/or drugs have played a role in 53% of all fatal crashes in the state. In the same period, 72,130 crashes on Ohio roadways involved an impaired driver or pedestrian — resulting in 3,920 deaths and nearly 44,000 injuries.
On Memorial Day weekend 2025, the OSHP reported 11 fatal crashes across Ohio. Five of those eleven — nearly half — involved OVI. In a single weekend. Troopers made 410 OVI arrests during that 72-hour stretch while the rest of Ohio was at cookouts and family gatherings.
The people injured or killed in those crashes were not statistics when they left for their holiday weekend. They were people going somewhere. The impaired drivers who hit them made choices — a series of them, over hours — that led directly to those outcomes. And Ohio law gives the victims of those choices a path to accountability that most people don’t fully understand until they need it.
Ohio OVI Law Is Not Just About BAC
The first thing most people think about when they hear “drunk driver” is the 0.08% blood alcohol limit. But Ohio’s impaired driving landscape has shifted significantly, and understanding that shift matters for victims.
Of the 3,587 OVI-related fatal crashes in Ohio since 2019, 40% involved drugs only — no alcohol at all. Another 32% involved a combination of alcohol and drugs. Pure alcohol-only cases represent just 28% of OVI fatalities.
The most commonly identified drugs in Ohio’s OVI fatal crashes, according to the OSHP: cannabinoids including marijuana (40%), opioids including fentanyl (15%), amphetamines including methamphetamine (14%), and cocaine (11%). Nearly one in four OVI citations issued by OSHP troopers since 2019 involved marijuana or another drug.
This matters for victims in two ways. First, drug impairment cases can be harder to detect and prosecute criminally — field sobriety tests were developed around alcohol impairment, and blood toxicology results take time. A driver who causes a serious crash while impaired by fentanyl or marijuana may face a more complicated criminal process than one who blows twice the legal limit at the scene.
Second, and more importantly for your civil claim: the standard for civil liability is entirely different from the criminal standard. You don’t need a conviction. You don’t need a specific BAC reading. You need to establish that the driver was impaired and that impairment caused your injuries — a standard that can be met through officer observations, crash behavior analysis, toxicology results, and the physical evidence of what happened. If a driver was weaving, failed field sobriety tests, and caused a crash, the civil case can proceed regardless of what happens in the Bellefontaine Municipal Court, the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, or any other criminal venue.
What Ohio Law Makes Available to OVI Victims
Most personal injury cases have one primary track: prove negligence, calculate damages, negotiate or litigate. OVI cases have that track — and several others that can significantly change what victims recover.
Punitive Damages Under ORC § 2315.21
When a driver’s conduct demonstrates malice, aggravated circumstances, or conscious disregard for the rights and safety of others, Ohio courts can award punitive damages on top of compensatory damages. These are not designed to compensate you for losses — they are designed to punish conduct so egregious that a jury decides the defendant should feel it financially.
Drunk and drugged driving cases are among the clearest paths to punitive damages in Ohio personal injury law. A driver who spent hours drinking before getting behind the wheel — who knew they were impaired and drove anyway — has made a decision that courts and juries regularly characterize as the conscious disregard standard requires. Prior OVI history strengthens this argument considerably. A driver arrested with a BAC of 0.177, who has prior OVI convictions, who refused to stop drinking before driving — that record is not just evidence of negligence. It is evidence of a pattern of conduct that goes beyond carelessness.
Punitive damages are not automatic, and they are not available in every case. They require the right facts and the right presentation. We evaluate them from the beginning of every OVI case, not as an afterthought.
Dram Shop Liability Under ORC § 4399.18
If the impaired driver who hit you was served alcohol by a bar, restaurant, or other licensed establishment while visibly intoxicated, that establishment may be jointly liable for your injuries. This is called dram shop liability, and it is one of the most underutilized sources of recovery in Ohio OVI victim cases.
The practical importance: when a drunk driver carries only Ohio’s minimum $25,000 liability coverage — which is common — and your injuries exceed that amount by a significant margin, the dram shop claim against a commercial establishment with its own insurance policy can be the difference between partial and full compensation.
Identifying this liability requires moving quickly. Security camera footage at the establishment showing the driver’s condition is often the most powerful evidence — and it disappears fast. Receipts, credit card records, and server statements documenting how much the driver was served and over what period are also essential. We pursue this investigation at the same time we are building the primary negligence case.
Underinsured Motorist Coverage
Ohio law requires auto insurers to offer uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and if you have it, it becomes available when the at-fault driver’s liability coverage is insufficient to cover your damages. In serious OVI crash cases — where injuries can involve long hospitalization, surgery, rehabilitation, and permanent disability — policy minimums are frequently inadequate. Stacking your own coverage on top of the at-fault driver’s creates a significantly larger potential recovery pool.
We review your own policy from the start of every OVI case for this reason.
Who We Serve — and Where
Kruger & Hodges handles OVI victim cases across southwest and central Ohio from nine offices. Every office we operate sits in a community that sees OVI crashes — on US 33 through Logan County, on I-75 through Butler County, on US-35 through Greene County, on the rural two-lanes connecting Preble, Fayette, Pickaway, Champaign, and Clinton Counties to their county seats. We know the roads, the local enforcement agencies, and the courts where these cases are litigated.
If you’ve been hurt by an impaired driver in Ohio, the other driver’s insurance company is already working the case. They began the moment the crash was reported. Before you give a recorded statement, before you accept any offer, and before you sign anything contact us.
The consultation is free. The fee is contingency-based — nothing unless we recover for you.