MOUNT VERNON — Speeding and driver inexperience are the two leading causes of winter traffic accidents, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
From 2004-06, the patrol has recorded 105 fatalities on snowy or icy Ohio roads. There were nearly 15,000 injury accidents, one in five of which were caused by a driver under age 20. By comparison, only 8 percent of the accidents were caused by drivers over age 60.
“This just goes to show you that experience is a huge factor,” said Patrol Sgt. Brett Gockstetter. “It’s not really a big surprise; for some of these kids, this is only their first or second winter on the road.
“They just haven’t had the experience driving in the snow,” he added. “They don’t always realize how important it is to slow down and increase their following distance.”
Crash statistics were highest in Cuyahoga County, where a high population density and lake-effect snow worked together to cause 1,850 injury accidents and three fatalities from 2004-06.
“Cuyahoga County was the leader by far in snow/ice-related crashes,” said Gockstetter. “They have a large population and they also get nearly tenfold the amount of bad weather that we get in Columbus.”
Closer to home, Mount Vernon Police Chief Mike Merrilees said failure to adjust driving habits to account for winter weather always leads to traffic accidents inside the city limits.
“We get a little bit of snow or ice on these brick streets, and it get very slippery,” he said. “I’ve seen people sliding off the side of the road just trying to make it up Gay Street.
“We deal with slower speeds in the city, but even at 20 miles per hour we’ve seen cars slide half a block if they are on ice,” he added. “And even driving slow, if you hit the brakes and slide out into an intersection you can be involved in an accident.”
According to the patrol, icy roads can triple the distance it takes for a vehicle to come to a complete stop. Troopers encourage drivers to allow themselves three times more space between vehicles then they do in normal weather.
Data also shows that over half of winter weather accidents take place during normal commuting hours, from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
“We have people getting into accidents that are trying to get to and from work at the same speed they always do,” said Merrilees. “In bad weather, you really have to leave more time to get to where you are going, and leave plenty of room between you and other cars.”
Merrilees also cautioned drivers against using four-wheel drive vehicles as an excuse for not altering their driving habits to for winter weather.
“Some people get a four wheel drive vehicle and think they can drive totally normal in terrible conditions, but they can’t,” he said. “It does help, but If you hit a patch of solid ice, it may not help enough. We’ve seen plenty of four wheel drives sliding into the ditch.”