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State patrol probes deadly crash
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ELLSWORTH
The first accident since a $1.4 million project to improve driver safety at the intersection of state Route 45 and Leffingwell Road proved deadly.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol continues to investigate a Tuesday two-vehicle accident at the intersection. Michelle A. Mayle, 19, of Warren died from her injuries later that night at St. Elizabeth Health Center.
The patrol said David B. Dezee, 52, of North Jackson was northbound on Route 45 around 7 p.m. Tuesday when his pickup struck Mayle’s car that was traveling westbound on Leffing-well. Both vehicles ran off the road into a ditch.
Dezee was not injured.
Lt. Chris Heverly of the state patrol said this was the first accident since Oct. 1 at this intersection. In that same time, three crashes were reported at the nearby state Routes 45 and 165 intersection, and one crash was reported at nearby state Route 45 and Berlin Station.
“I know there have been crashes, and sometimes they’ve been very serious,” Heverly said of the Route 45 and Leffingwell Road intersection.
Last spring, the Ohio Department of Transportation District 4 began a $1.4 million project for site-distance improvements to the intersection and two culvert replacements on Route 45 north of Leffingwell, said Justin Chesnic, ODOT spokesman.
“We removed that grade to improve your line of vision. The goal of the project was to improve the site distance in that area,” Chesnic said. The project was completed in October.
ODOT records accident data and also takes into consideration studies by metropolitan planning organizations such as Eastgate Regional Council of Governments when researching and proposing projects, Chesnic said.
“We look at how many crashes occur. Different crashes are caused by certain things, and there’s a difference between a rear-end versus T-bone,” he said.
At least one resident on Route 45 said the changes have made the intersection worse.
Kim Sisco has been a lifelong resident of the area and said that before the changes, drivers on Leffingwell could see both directions of traffic coming through the intersection.
“Now, we have blind spots on both sides,” she said.
The danger, Sisco said, is a dip north of the intersection on Route 45, where oncoming cars are out of view for a few seconds.
Chesnic said ODOT does review crash data annually but usually determines projects based on larger data sets, such as a five- or 10-year period.