Fatal crashes up in Lake County

That bucks trend which saw decrease statewide

The Ohio Highway Patrol is reporting a 9 percent decrease in fatal crashes statewide but Lake County saw its total increase in 2018.

Statewide, there were 1,071 traffic deaths in 2018, down from 1,179 the year prior according to OHP data.

The state also saw a 10 percent decrease in unbelted traffic fatalities. OHP troopers issued 137,000 seat belt citations in 2018 to “increase awareness and compliance with Ohio’s seat belt laws.” OHP stated that seatbelts saved 51 more lives in Ohio than in 2017. In both 2017 and 2018, 56 percent of people who died in crashes were not wearing seatbelts.

OHP also reported that impaired driving fatalities decrease

by 7 percent, but it still remains a factor in 36 percent of the state’s traffic deaths.

Lake County had 13 fatal crashes in 2018, up from nine in 2017. It’s the highest number the county has seen since 2015 when there were also 13 fatalities. There were nine traffic deaths in the county in 2017 and 11 in 2016.

There were five OVI-related fatalities in the county last year, the same number as 2017. Lake County also

had four motorcycle-related deaths last year after having two in 2017 and 2016 (there were none in 2015).

Nine of the deaths last year occurred in urban areas of Lake County and four were in rural areas according to OHP’s data.

Geauga County saw a slight decrease, from nine deaths in 2017 to eight last year according to OHP data. There were 16 fatal crashes in the county in 2016.

For the first time since 2015, Geauga County did not have any motorcyclerelated fatalities. There was one in the county in 2017 and five in 2016.

Geauga had one OVI-related fatality in 2018, same as 2017. In 2016 there were five.

OHP responded to roughly the same number of total crashes across the state in 2018 (64,820) as 2017 (64,834). The 617,996 enforcement stops by OHP last year represented a 2.6 percent decrease over the prior year. There were 5,919 OHP enforcement stops in Lake County and 3,033 in Geauga County last year.

OHP stated the public should call #677 to report impaired drivers, drug activity or stranded motorists.