Grand Lake area fatal crashes fall in 2014

Local traffic deaths declined in 2014 from the previous year and authorities hope to make it a trend.

Area law enforcement officers said they will continue to monitor "hot spots" where accidents more frequently occur, as well as target impaired drivers and those not wearing seat belts.

"The sheriff's office has worked traffic details throughout the year to reduce crashes," Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey said. "Some of this has been strictly traffic enforcement; some have been a combination of traffic enforcement and drug interdiction enforcement."

Mercer County in 2014 reported three fatal traffic crashes that took the lives of four people. Seven crashes and seven fatalities were investigated in the county in 2013.

Auglaize County reported five crashes and seven traffic deaths in 2014, down from eight crashes and 10 deaths in 2013. One of the accidents in September 2014 - involving a group of motorcycles on Interstate 75 - led to the deaths of three people.

Troopers across the state reported 973 traffic fatalities in 2014 with an additional 37 still under review. Ohio tallied 990 traffic deaths in 2013.

Troopers and sheriff's deputies will continue to monitor high-traffic spots in the Grand Lake area such as U.S. 33, according to Lt. Scott Carrico, commander of the Wapakoneta post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

"We'll continue to assign units to specific areas because I think people get used to seeing officers and they're more careful," he said.

Numerous injury accidents have occurred during the past several years along a stretch of U.S. 33 from Celina-Mendon Road to U.S. 127, Carrico said.

"(U.S.) 33 seems to be a hot spot. It carries a lot of traffic in both counties," he said, referring to the two- and four-lane highway that spans into Mercer and Auglaize counties.

Adam Hamilton, 26, of Fort Wayne, Ind., was killed June 7 in a two-vehicle crash on U.S. 33, between Palmer Road and U.S. 127. His vehicle collided head-on in a ditch with another vehicle as he attempted to pass a semitrailer, a sheriff's office report noted.

Sheriff's deputies and troopers this fall were assigned to U.S. 33 because Grey and Carrico believe the presence of cruisers prompts drivers to be more cautious.

Carrico also credits the Ohio Department of Transportation for helping keep motorists safe on U.S. 33 and other local roadways.

"If we see there are areas with more than one crash, I'm on the phone pretty quick to ODOT. They do a great job looking into it to see what they can do with the roads or signage," Carrico said.

Other area hot spots identified by law enforcement are the intersections of state Routes 29 and 118, and 119 and U.S. 127, Carrico said.

"We're going to try to hit the ground running Jan. 1 in these high-crash areas," he said.

Grey agreed.

"We constantly monitor where the hot spots are and try to focus traffic enforcement in those areas, when possible," he said.

The majority of fatal accidents in recent years were blamed on drivers failing to yield at intersections. However, the cause of crashes in 2014 varied, authorities said.

One crash factor that appears to be on the increase, according to local law enforcement officers, is drugged driving. Offenders abuse illegal drugs such as heroin and/or prescription drugs, officials said.

"We've got more drug-impaired driving. That's what we're running into now," Carrico said. "I'm not sure, though, if it's more than alcohol-impaired driving."

Alcohol-impaired driving is "almost nonexistent," he said. No accidents in Mercer or Auglaize counties in 2014 appear to be the result of drunken driving, officials said.

Carrico said drunken driving typically is noted in the evening and early morning hours. However, arrests for drugged driving are taking place more often on the day shift, he said.

"A lot of drug abusers take off in the morning, buy their drugs and sometimes stop to shoot up on their way back," Carrico explained, adding such a situation occurred in recent weeks with a victim found dead in a rest area near Piqua.

Drug- and alcohol-impaired offenses are reported by law enforcement agencies as "OVI" charges, making it difficult at first glance to clarify the numbers.

According to statistics from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, 11,050 drug arrests were made in 2014, compared with 9,628 in 2013 and 7,644 in 2012.

Carrico said he plans to continue the strict enforcement of seat belt usage he started at the Wapakoneta post in 1990. Half the victims who died in traffic fatalities in Mercer County last year were not wearing seat belts, he said.

Only one of the seven victims who perished in traffic crashes last year in Auglaize County was buckled up. Three were motorcycle operators who did not have the option; none was wearing a helmet. Another traffic victim was operating a golf cart with a seat belt available but not worn.

Across Ohio, troopers in 2014 cited more than 107,000 people for not wearing seat belts - about 10,000 more than in 2013.