CINCINNATI — Cincinnati police officers issued 18% fewer traffic citations in the city overall in 2024, when compared with 2023, but coordinated traffic blitzes have changed which neighborhoods are seeing the majority of those tickets.
The traffic report issued Wednesday was the result of a motion from Cincinnati Councilman Mark Jeffreys. The motion, filed back in December, asked the city administration to issue a traffic report within 60 days that outlined overall citations issued, along with data tied to the specific traffic blitzes CPD conducted in 2024.
The motion also asked CPD to report data on crashes on Cincinnati-area highways, and the police hours those crashes consumed.
CPD responded to more highway crashes in 2024 than 2023; the number rose from 1,911 to 2,028. Crashes were down in 2024 on I-74 and I-71, but they were higher on I-75, the report says.
Despite the locally-focused traffic blitzes, Cincinnati police issued fewer tickets in 2024 than 2023 — but 2023 was a sharp uptick from recent years.
So far, 2019 set the citation high of the past 6 years, with 35,810 citations. Those numbers dropped in 2020 and haven't been that high since.
In 2020, CPD issued a total of 21,325 citations. In 2021, that number rose to 22,225. It rose again in 2022, with CPD issuing 23,746. Still, those relatively consistent increases were left behind in 2023, when CPD issued 30,350 citations.
In 2024, by contrast, CPD issued 24,830 tickets.
These 5 neighborhoods saw the most traffic tickets issued in 2024:
- Westwood: 2,236 citations
- Over-the-Rhine: 1,320 tickets
- Mount Airy: 1,142 tickets
- Lower Price Hill: 1,115 tickets
- East Price Hill: 1,070 tickets
In all, District 3 issued the most tickets in 2024, with 11,394 citations issued by officers in that area.
Most neighborhoods in Cincinnati saw a drop in citations issued — some of them drastic. For example, CPD issued 1,012 citations in Avondale in 2023, but just 697 in 2024, a 31% drop in just one year.
Spring Grove Village saw the sharpest drop, down 49.8% after CPD issued just 442 tickets in the neighborhood, compared with 880 in 2023.
Out of Cincinnati's neighborhoods, 32 of them saw fewer traffic citations issued in 2024 when compared with 2023. In all, 17 neighborhoods saw and increase in citations and one neighborhood — Oakley — saw 321 citations issued in both 2023 and 2024.
Most of the increases in citations in 2024 were relatively small, with a difference of fewer than 20 citations.
But one neighborhood alone saw a stark increase.
Citations issued in Over-the-Rhine rose from 765 tickets in 2023 to 1,320 last year — an increase of 72.5%.
According to CPD's report, that's because OTR was the focus of one of the department's traffic blitzes in 2024.
District one "specifically set their focus on Liberty Street and select Over-the-Rhine streets including Vine Street and Green Street, after reviewing data and other reports presented by CAPS, reflecting top crash and weapon call for service locations."
Another spot in OTR, around Mohawk and Renner Streets, was also the target of a traffic blitz, but not because CPD's data told them it was necessarily dangerous. The report says that area was patrolled in response to concerned residents who live nearby.
Cincinnati police also conducted traffic blitzes in District Three. One focused on the 1300-2200 block of Queen City Avenue, after data showed the largest concentrations of crashes in D3 happen there, the report says. Since then, traffic calming measures have been intro that area, and D3 continues to conduct enforcement efforts in that area, according to the report.
Another target zone in 2024 was Glenway Avenue, between Crookshank and Werk Road, with a specific focus on trying to stop drivers from using the middle lane to pass. In addition, areas of Colerain Avenue near North Bend Road and on Harrison between Werk and McHenry Avenue were blitz zones.
D3's neighborhood liaison has also worked on traffic complaints around Chase and Virginia, Werk and Harrison and Colerain and North Bend, the report says.
There will be more coordinated traffic blitzes coming in 2025, CPD said, though no specific zones or roadways were highlighted in the report. The department was tentatively approved for a blitz in partnership with the Ohio State Highway Patrol from Feb. 17 through Feb. 28, but the report doesn't say whether that blitz happened.
Another blitz in the summer is also approved, though the report did not list dates or areas of focus for that event. Some OVI checkpoints are also planned for 2025, CPD said.
"The Cincinnati Police Department will continue to conduct periodic short term traffic enforcement while repeatedly looking for longer term solutions in addition to the continued collaboration with their partners on traffic enforcement and traffic calming measures," reads the report.
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