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Fatal crashes increase in recent weeks, Valley officials not sure why
By ROBERT CONNELLY
YOUNGSTOWN
Weeks after state officials unveiled an electronic message campaign to raise awareness of fatal car crashes on Ohio roads, the number of such crashes has significantly increased locally.
Ohio Department of Transportation and Ohio State Highway Patrol officials gathered July 1 to unveil the message campaign and increase public awareness of traffic fatalities on Ohio roadways. But the string of fatal crashes in the Interstate 76/Interstate 80 corridor, near a massive three-year construction project, has since brought more attention to a deadly year.
While a man is charged in one of the fatalities, the other local accidents remain under investigation by the patrol’s Hiram Post, which handles turnpike crashes; and the Canfield Post.
At that July 1 news conference, ODOT spokesman Brent Kovacs said traffic deaths statewide were up 19 percent in 2015 versus 2014 and were at a rate of 76 more deaths at that time.
He said in July there were 96 fatal crashes statewide, which is lower than the five-year average of 105 in July from 2010 to 2014.
When the message-board campaign started, the fatality numbers had started to decline “so, so far so good,” Kovacs said.
But as of Aug. 10, Mahoning County had recorded eight more fatal crashes than this time last year. In Trumbull County, that number is two.
To the west, Portage County has had nine more fatal crashes at this point compared with 2014.
In all, 33 of Ohio’s 88 counties have had at least two or more above 2014’s fatalities this year.
There have been 16 fatal crashes in Mahoning County as of Friday afternoon, said Matt Bruning, ODOT press secretary. “I think we’re seeing a conversation being started, especially online. We’re getting a lot of comments” on social media “from people saying they’ve noticed the numbers” from the electronic message campaign.
Bruning said a record number of ODOT construction zones, 990, are in place. There were 5,100 crashes in about 940 work zones in 2014, with more than 1,000 injured and 17 fatalities.
Kovacs talked about the Aug. 11 crash in which Cyril, 78, and Marjorie Dean, 69, of Briarwood Lane, Austintown, died instantly from head and neck injuries after their vehicle was rear-ended by a tractor trailer.
“The unfortunate thing about [that] crash on 76 is that the motorist passed two signs before the crash happened. They passed a mobile message board displaying ‘watch out for’ sign” for the construction zone ahead, and also passed a permanent sign, Kovacs said.
“After that is when the crash happened. So a lot of times the thing is when you pass [construction-ahead signs] you may not see anything for a mile or two when the back-up starts.”
At that three-year, $108.4 million, six-mile work site, ODOT is widening the interstate from four to six lanes and replacing six bridges. The work area is on I-80 from state Route 46 in Austintown to state Route 193/Belmont Avenue in Liberty. ODOT has marked off temporary lane changes and placed overhead signs for motorists to follow. Much of the work started at night.
“We honestly don’t know what the difference is” for deadly accidents between now and previous years, said Andy Frost III, Austintown Fire Chief. “I wish I had an answer ... For some reason people aren’t seeing [construction zones] or understanding that or something is causing them to lose control on the roadway.”
Frost said he didn’t have specific numbers, but said calls for response on the both the Turnpike and I-80 – both covered by the Austintown Fire Department – has increased. “Certainly the fatalities we’ve had in the recent past brings everything to the forefront,” he said.
As for the cause, Frost said: “I don’t want to assume anything that’s caused [this], I don’t know.”
Lt. Nakia Hendrix, commander of the patrol’s Canfield Post, said his department and ODOT have set up speed trailers on I-80 eastbound at Bailey Road and also near the Mahoning County line near the Meander Reservoir.
“Any time you educate the public, you have an opportunity of definitely helping – and then you have those people that say it’s definitely not going to happen to them” and it does, Hendrix said.
He also noted that some of the fatal crashes have involved out-of-state drivers. “No matter if you’re in-state or out-of-state, people still need to pay attention to what’s in front of them.”
“Sixteen people have died this year in Mahoning County, and people are making poor choices,” Hendrix said.
A number of the fatal crashes have involved semi-trailers, a fact highlighted at the July 1 news conference announcing the digital message campaign.
Hendrix said those vehicles can weigh 80,000 pounds and “by the time you perceive” a slow-down or construction zone “and react to that, sometimes it’s too late. When you have that heavier vehicle, you are going to have increased stopping distance.”
Both Hendrix and Frost said the recent spate of fatal accidents is the most associated with one project since the twin bridges over the Meander Reservoir were replaced over a three-year project. That project began in 2006. In fact, a Nov. 17, 2006, Vindicator article featured then-Austintown Fire Chief Andy Frost Jr.’s concerns about the Meander construction zone design after a fatal accident there.
“We did experience some problems when they were working on the bridge before,” Hendrix said.
Frost III said: “We had that big bridge project several years ago and we had a couple there, but nothing to the magnitude here.”
Kovacs said there will be a stronger police presence near construction zones, including on I-80 about a half-mile before the construction, with police cars with lights on near working crews.
“Motorists just have to pay attention. You need to watch for stopped traffic in construction zones,” he said. “There’s plenty of warnings – we’re talking about [warning signs posted] two or three miles” before the construction zone.
It’s not just the main highways through the community that are seeing fatal crashes. A preschool teacher in Boardman, 21-year-old Stephanie Bucci, died after her vehicle left the U.S. Route 62 roadway earlier this month. There still isn’t a cause listed for that crash.
Tina L. Rosedale, 54, of Pennsylvania, died in a crash with a tractor-trailer on I-80 just west of its junction with I-680 in Austintown on April 27.
William Tinkard, 31, died in a fatal crash on I-76 and the Lake Milton Bridge on July 30. The next day, a turnpike crash in Austintown killed Stacy Gardner, 44, of Massillon; Rahmatkarn Dhillon, 23, of Canada, was charged in the case and awaits action by a Mahoning County grand jury.
He is charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, a third-degree felony, and aggravated vehicular assault, a fourth-degree felony.
“I expect people to make good decisions, and we’ve seen lately that some people are not making good decisions,” Hendrix said.