Columbus, Ohio – Prior to the start of Labor Day weekend, the Ohio Traffic Safety Office and the Ohio State Highway Patrol warned drivers about the weekend’s deadly history.
“The holiday period with the most serious injury and fatal crashes is Labor Day weekend,” according to Judy Converse, public information officer for the Ohio Traffic Safety Office.
That dangerous warning has already been heeded in communities across central and northern Ohio.
Two people were killed in a crash after a police chase Saturday evening. The chase concluded when the driver allegedly sped down Greenlawn Avenue and into Greenlawn Cemetery.
Randel Rogers, the cemetery’s executive director, said he reviewed the surveillance footage from the incident and saw the vehicle drive at high speed the wrong way around a roundabout at the old entrance to the cemetery, colliding with a stone wall that has been in place for nearly a century.
Rogers claims he regularly sees cars driving 50 or 60 mph down that road, and this vehicle could have been going 80 mph. Rogers estimated that repairing the stone wall would cost between $40,000 and $60,000.
This weekend, the Ohio State Highway Patrol reported that a man was killed in the City of Wellston, Jackson County, when a juvenile driver collided with a golf cart. Another person died in Mifflin Township when a driver crossed the center line and collided with another vehicle head on. The driver was killed. A single vehicle crash in Erie County killed the driver after he lost control of the vehicle due to speed. Three more people were killed when a vehicle collided with a tow truck on the side of the road in Erie County on Sunday morning. That crash caused a traffic backup, which resulted in another crash less than an hour later, when a vehicle collided with the back of a truck, killing both the driver and the passenger.
OSHP is emphasizing sober driving this weekend, but speeding and distracted driving are also deadly.
According to Sgt. Brice Nihiser of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, drivers can assist law enforcement by reporting an erratic or dangerous driver on the road.
“Dial #677 and that will get you to your local post,” Nihiser said. “We’ll put troopers on the road and we’ll make sure that we intercept that driver before they cause a tragedy.”
