Accidents in work areas mount on I-76, 80

By JOE GORMAN

jgorman@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

As road construction winds down this week on Interstates 76 and 80, the head of the Canfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol said several accidents in work zones could have been avoided.

Lt. Jerad Sutton said the two biggest factors in all the crashes were a combination of speed and following too closely, which often leads to accidents, which are caused by drivers not paying attention to the circumstances around them.

This occurs despite stepped-up efforts to ticket speeders. So far this year, troopers have pulled over 5,452 vehicles on the two interstates and have written 2,363 traffic citations.

In 2017 in Mahoning County, the patrol has investigated 32 injury crashes in the construction zones and one fatal accident, as well as 155 crashes that have caused damage to property.

The most serious of those was a June 29 chain reaction accident in the westbound lanes of Interstate 76 that killed a 53-year-old New Castle, Pa., man.

A Utah truck driver faces charges in that accident.

On Sunday, three accidents took place in the eastbound lanes of I- 76 near state Route 534 in Jackson Township, with two people taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital with serious injuries.

Sutton said that troopers have been working in construction zones in several overtime details that are paid for by the Ohio Department Of Transportation.

Sutton said troopers work

construction zones to curtail bad driving habits.

“We want to modify their [drivers’] behavior before they get in the zone,” Sutton said.

The most common violations troopers look for in the construction zones are speeding and following too closely.

“Those two go hand in hand,” Sutton said.

Some people also don’t pay attention when they are driving, Sutton said, adding some are on phones or other electronic devices while driving. Other factors cause driver inattention as well, such as tuning their radios.

“The recurring problem is people not paying attention,” Sutton said.

Sutton said he wants drivers to get the message to make sure they know their surroundings when they are driving. He said as much as troopers can write citations, it is ultimately up to drivers to change their behavior.

“Some of them [drivers], no matter how much enforcement we do, it comes down to the driver,” Sutton said.

Brent Kovacs, spokesman for the District 4 of the Ohio Department Of Transportation, said work in both construction zones is expected to wrap up Friday.

He said there will then be work on the Northeast River Road Bridge, which spans both interstates.