COLUMBUS — The number of deaths in fatal crashes in Ohio over the four-day Labor Day weekend rose significantly from last year.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol reported Tuesday that road deaths increased nearly 28 percent, from 18 to 23, or nearly by a third.

From midnight Friday to 11:59 p.m. Monday, the state patrol reports 23 deaths in 20 fatal crashes while last year the weekend saw 17 fatal crashes, resulting in 18 deaths, the patrol said in the news release.

Fourteen of those fatal crashes involved alcohol or drugs and, in nine cases, motorists were not wearing seat belts.

In northwest Ohio, six people were killed in five fatal crashes over the weekend, none in the Toledo area.

Three people were killed Sunday in two fatal crashes on the Ohio Turnpike in Erie County. Also on Sunday

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