Crashes in Lucas County down for the first time in 5 years

TOLEDO, Ohio —

For the first time in at least five years, the Ohio State Highway Patrol reported a drop in crashes on Lucas County’s roadways.

“We believe that’s because of our public safety partners: Toledo Police, Lucas County Sheriff’s Office, the other police departments in the area, along with our educational resources such as Safe Communities, local high schools and so forth,” said Lt. Rustun Schack, OSHP Toledo Post commander.

Schack added that drivers are also being smarter behind the wheel and becoming more aware.

“People have been putting down their cell phones like they should be, getting those designated drivers like they should be,” he said.

So far this year, there have been just over 10,800 crashes in Lucas County, compared to more than 11,7000 last year and more than 12,200 the year before.

As of Tuesday morning, 29 crashes have been fatal in 2024. Just under 1,600 have resulted in serious or minor injuries.

These numbers point to a drop in all categories since 2019, including 2020 when AAA reported most drivers reduced their miles on the road because of the pandemic.

“We have used statistics to place our troopers in better locations where more accidents are happening, where we are seeing more fatal crashes, where we see more OVI impairment,” Schack said.

But in Wood County, while there have been fewer total crashes so far compared to last year, the numbers aren’t decreasing as quickly as they are in Lucas County.

Sandy Wiechman, Safe Communities of Wood County coordinator, says there have been 19 fatal crashes in 2024 so far. At this point in 2023, there were 18.

“Total last year, we had 21 fatalities. This year — I don’t want to say we’re on track to meet that again, I hope we’re not, but 19 is 19 too many,” Wiechman said.

Wiechman says all the fatal crashes the county has reported this year have been preventable and that most resulted from failing to stop at a stop sign.

In the new year, she says more needs to be done to pump the brakes on the troubling numbers.

“We want to get more information out when they do a traffic stop, say, for a stop sign violation,” Wiechman said. “We want to show them the dangers of what can happen when they don’t make a complete stop.”

To view OSHP’s crash database, click here.