Accident-prone Route 82 site takes life of Poland woman

By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
HOWLAND -- An official for the Ohio Department of Transportation said two months ago that road improvements would not have prevented a deadly June crash at the eastbound exit ramp from state Route 82 to state Route 46.
Today, a Poland woman is dead and at least 10 other people are hurt as the result of a six-vehicle pileup Monday evening, only a few hundred yards away at state Route 82 and Howland-Wilson Road.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol said 50-year-old Vickie L. Dietrich was pronounced dead at St. Joseph Health Center.
One man taken by helicopter to St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown was in stable condition this morning, and an injured woman was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph Health Center in Warren after the accident at 6:20 p.m., said Howland Fire Capt. David Williams.
The two Humility of Mary Health System hospitals said they had no record of treatment for the others injured. Three people were treated at the scene, Williams said.
Here's the scene
"This place was in chaos. There were probably 10 ambulances here and two helicopters. Everybody was just running everywhere," said Denny Ambrose of nearby Inverrary Drive. "We have a lot of traffic here at this time of night."
Involved in the chain-reaction crash were a tractor-trailer, another truck, three cars, including one in front of the semi that was demolished, and a van. All were headed east on Route 82.
The patrol said the tractor-trailer driven by Jageep Singh, no age available, of New Jersey was struck by a car driven by Joseph J. Zipay, 31, of Vienna.
The two men were treated for minor injuries.
Zipay's car was struck by Dietrich's vehicle, which was then hit by a car driven by Karen S. Ang, 37, of Erie, Pa.
Passengers Michael Ang, 47; Michael P. Ang, 16; Matthew Ang, 10; and Nicole Ang, 9, were taken to Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren.
Ang's vehicle was hit by a vehicle driven by Mollie Buckley-Sekola of Girard. She, along with her passengers, Kelly Glaab, 12, of Liberty; Katie Sekola, 3; Colin Sekola, 7; and Caroline Sekola, 2, were taken to St. Joseph Health Center in Warren.
Buckley-Sekola's vehicle was struck by Valentino Valerio Jr., 34, of Warren. Reports do not indicate Valerio's injury status.
Location
The accident, still under investigation, occurred where eastbound traffic on the Route 82 expressway is forced to slow quickly from highway speeds as it approaches a traffic light at Howland-Wilson Road.
"I heard loud noises. It sounded like shotguns going off. Four or five big bangs, and I heard tires squeal," Ambrose said.
Ambrose, a former Howland firefighter, said he sees at least one or two accidents a month at the intersection, often because motorists are trying to beat the changing light or attempting to make left turns from the wrong locations.
"People don't know how to make a left turn here," he said.
He said the speed limit through the intersection should be lowered to 35 or 40 mph. "It's just a bad intersection."
Ambrose said he approached the van, whose female driver had been thrown into the back seat by the impact.
The four small children inside were all buckled into their seats, he said.
He urged the van's occupants to go to the safety of the median, where he tried to comfort them after the crash.
What resident said
"This light is ridiculous," said Loree Cochran, who lives on Howland-Wilson Road, four houses from the accident scene. The flashing yellow lights that warn motorists on Route 82 about the traffic signal ahead were changed recently from flashing only when the light was about to change to flashing continuously, she noted.
"This traffic is so congested. There's nothing down there warning that this light's turning. So what do they do? They speed up to make it through the light," she said.
She said Howland-Wilson Road is to be widened to install turning lanes at that location in the spring.
A short distance away, the Ohio Department of Transportation has begun adding turn lanes at state Routes 82 and 46, and a traffic safety study of that intersection is under way.
The governor's office of highway safety has ranked the Routes 82-46 intersection as the second-most accident prone in Trumbull County.
What happens
"When 46 is busy, they start cutting down Howland-Wilson Road, so you get a lot more traffic there. You get people who are running the red light," said Denise Caraway of Howland-Wilson Road. Traffic becomes very congested whenever a power failure turns the Route 82-Howland-Wilson intersection into a four-way stop, she said.
"I liked the flashing light that they had before. At least, it warned you when the light was going to turn red so you could start slowing down. Now, it's just a constant light," she said of the yellow flashers in both directions on Route 82.
In another accident June 14, Roberto Duebelt plowed his tractor-trailer into a line of traffic backed up on the eastbound exit ramp from 46 to 82, killing one person and injuring 11 others, the state patrol said.
He told state troopers he fell asleep at the wheel.
Jennifer Richmond of ODOT's District 4 office in Ravenna said a range of extraordinary circumstances contributed to that accident, including an earlier crash and heavier-than-usual traffic because of the Mahoning Valley Rib Burn Off and the LPGA golf tournament.
ODOT then began adding left turn lanes from northbound 46 onto 82 west and on the westbound exit ramp off 82 to 46 south as a means to alleviate traffic backup.
A study of traffic patterns in the area is under way by a consultant to determine what can be done to improve safety.