Spokespersons for the Ohio State Highway Patrol say that statistics concerning wrong-way crashes within the state have not been routinely kept over the years, but that they are being especially noted now and will be an individual category for close scrutiny beginning next year.
That might well be timely, along with specific recommendations for pinpointing their causes when possible and recommendations for reducing their frequency, given the spate of fatal wrong-way collisions that have recently occurred on Ohio roads, especially in the Toledo area.
A truck accident involving a semi tractor-trailer and a car this past Monday on Interstate 75 in Toledo is a tragic case in point. That accident — which took place around 3 a.m. — occurred when a car carrying two Michigan residents slammed into the truck while driving in the wrong direction. Both the car’s driver and passenger died in the collision, with the truck driver being hospitalize d with injuries that were described as not being life threatening.
That accident was far from an isolated event in the area. Rather, it marked the third time within the past two weeks that a wrong-way driver has crashed into another vehicle in or near Toledo.
Several persons died earlier this month, including three students from Bowling Green University, when a driver proceeding in the wrong direction on I-75 slammed into another vehicle. And just last week, on I-475 outside Toledo, a driver struck another car while driving the wrong way. No one was seriously injured in that accident.
Source: The Review, “Ohio wrong-way crash claims 2 near previous crash,” March 13, 2012