Ravenna road, Deerfield intersection, rank high on annual crash list

Motorists traveling through the Route 43 and Howe Road intersection in Brimfield may be safer because of four-way traffic signals installed there several years ago.

More:A look at dangerous roads, intersections in Portage County

The Ohio Department of Transportation announced in February 2018 that it had authorized the signals to replace overhead flashers, something township officials and residents had been requesting for years. Police Chief Roy Mosley said at the time that while the intersection did not have an exceptionally high number of crashes, the ones that did happen tended to be more serious.

Unfortunately, the replacement, completed the following September, did not come in time to potentially save the life of a 94-year-old Kent man named Dewey Souers, a Navy veteran who served in the South Pacific during World War II.

Souers died following a two-vehicle crash at the intersection on March 17, 2018. The driver of the other vehicle, a 38-year-old Kent woman, suffered non-life threatening injuries.

More:Kent dominates most likely serious crash sites in Portage

The intersection is among 186 that the Akron Metropolitan Area Traffic Study identified as "high crash" in its recently released annual crash report. It also includes 160 high-crash road sections in Portage and Summit counties, as well as Chippewa and Milton townships in Wayne County, during the three-year period of 2018 to 2020.

While the traffic signals at Route 43 and Howe came too late to possibly prevent the crash that killed Souers, they could be seen as an example of initiatives that AMATS says it wants to take.

"The Ohio Department of Transportation is making major changes to its Highway Safety Improvement Program to focus limited funding on fatal and serious injury crashes," the report states. "The department is also creating a new program to encourage systemic or proactive safety investments to prevent specific high-severity crash types. AMATS aims to align our safety program with ODOT’s in order to rank and fund locations of concern."

More:Report: Kent, Streetsboro top list of dangerous intersections

Four of the top 10 road sections on the list are in Portage, with the county accounting for 56 of the road sections, totaling about 75 miles, overall. One of those road sections; Route 59 in Ravenna Township from Brady Lake Road to Ravenna's west corporate line — 13 crashes along 0.45 miles long and ranked number 3 — is the highest ranked road section that had at least one fatal crash during that three-year period.

Eight of the top 10 intersections are in Portage. At number 13, Route 43 and Howe Road with 25 crashes is not in that group, but it is the highest ranked intersection with at least one fatal crash. Portage County accounted for 54 of the high crash intersections.

In making its rankings, AMATS also looked at average daily traffic — higher traffic counts compared to the number of crashes could lower the road section or intersection's ranking — and percentage of crashes that involved injuries and deaths.

Other Portage County road sections in the top 10 include:

• South Prospect Street from Ravenna's south corporate line to Lake Avenue, six crashes along 0.19 miles and ranked number 2.

• South Lincoln Street between East Summit and East Main streets in Kent, six crashes along 0.26 miles, ranked number 6.

• Route 44 from Tallmadge Road to Route 5 in Rootstown, 41 crashes on o.63 miles, ranked number 7.

The Portage County intersections ranked in the top 10 include:

• Routes 224 and 225 in Deerfield, 25 crashes, ranked number 1.

• Routes 14 and 44/North Chestnut Street in Ravenna, with 32 crashes. It ranked number 2 and was the highest ranked intersection with a crash that involved a pedestrian. 

• Route 82 and Mantua Center Road in Mantua Township and Route 14 and Cleveland Road in Ravenna Township, both with 18 crashes and tied in the number 3 spot.

• Routes 88 and 305 on Hiram Township, 22 crashes, ranked number 5.

• Route 14 and Infirmary Road in Ravenna Township, 16 crashes, ranked number 8.

• Diagonal and Mennonite roads in Mantua Township with 17 crashes and Route 14 and Mondial Parkway/Singletary Drive in Streetsboro, with 57 crashes, tied for number 9.

The report says that the aim of what is called the Safe System approach is to identify areas where the most severe crashes occur and their causes, then find ways to eliminate those crashes.

"These changes are happening because traffic deaths in Ohio have risen six of the past seven years," the report says. "Focusing on severity and specific crash types and safety improvements will help us better target these crashes and align our investments with federal safety requirements focused on reducing fatalities and serious injuries."

Examples of might be done include separating pedestrians and bicyclists from motor vehicle traffic with the addition of sidewalks and bike lanes, adding "rumble strips" on rural highways to alert distracted or tired drivers of danger, or simply lowering the speed limit.

"Safe System acknowledges that people make mistakes and engineers have a responsibility to reduce crash severity by being more aggressive in using roadway design and operational changes instead of relying on drivers to change their behavior," the report says. "Safe System also strives for a greater transportation balance that serves the needs of all road users, not just motorists."

Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at jsaunders@recordpub.com.