These 7 roadways are the most dangerous in Mahoning County, says Dept of Public Safety

If you want to know which are the most dangerous roads in Mahoning County, just look at the numbers.

According to the Ohio Department of Public Safety, Mahoning County had more than 29,000 vehicle crashes in the past five and a half years.

Of those 29,175 crashes, seven roads and highways racked up a thousand or more crashes between Jan. 2019 and June 2024.

U.S. 224: 3,367 crashes

• U.S. 224 has seen five fatal crashes since 2019: two in 2019, one in 2021 and one in 2022. So far, 2024 has seen two crashes with serious injuries, 29 crashes with minor injuries and 182 crashes with property damage.
• The most common variables in the wrecks were the ages of those involved. Drivers age 50 and older were involved in 1,621 of the U.S. 224 wrecks. Drivers between the ages of 15 and 24 were involved in 1,369 of the crashes. Of the 1,369 crashes, 707 of them involved drivers between 15 and 19.
• Crashes were more likely to occur between 1 p.m. (268 of them) and 7 p.m. (263 crashes), with 6 to 7:59 p.m. being the most dangerous (336 crashes).
• Crashes were most likely to occur on Wednesday (548 crashes), Thursday (513) or Friday (628).
• More crashes occurred in December than any other month of the year. In 2022, there were 79 crashes on U.S. 224 and in 2023, the road was the scene of 77 crashes.

I.R. 76: 1,434 crashes

• The common variables of crashes on I.R. 76 were commercial-related vehicles (480 crashes), mature-related drivers (416) and speeding (378). The Ohio Department of Public Safety counts anyone 50 and over.
• Wrecks were more likely to occur between 2:59 p.m. and 6:59 p.m., with the most dangerous hour 3:59 to 4:59, with 96 crashes.Traffic between 7 a,m, and 8 a.m. (75 crashes) was about as dangerous as 5 p.m. traffic (74 crashes).
• Wrecks were most likely to occur on Sundays (227 crashes) and Fridays (237).
• The road has already seen one fatality this year. The worst year for fatalities and wrecks of any kind, was 2022. There were six fatal wrecks, six with serious injuries and a total of 328 crashes that year.

I.R. 680: 1,332 crashes

• The majority of the crashes on this stretch were related to age, with 326 crashes involving mature drivers and 401 crashes involving drivers between 15 and 24.
• Deer were involved in 165 crashes.
• More than 100 crashes took place between 3:59 and 4:59 p.m. and just about every day is a bad day for crashes, ranging from 160 on Sunday to 219 on Thursday. Monday, Friday and Saturday hovered around the 200 mark.
• The roadway averages one fatality a year, including one in the last six months.
• November seems to be the worst month to use I.R. 680. More than 30 crashes occurred in November 2019, 2021 and 2022.
• Last month was the worst May in five years, with more than 30 crashes.

S.R. 7: 1,218 crashes

• Age was the biggest factor for crashes on S.R. 7. Mature-related crashes topped the list with 600. Drivers between 15 and 24 were involved in 435 crashes.
• A major factor in 376 crashes was failure to yield.
• Wrecks occurred most often between 3 and 5 p.m., mostly on weekdays. Tuesdays (214) and Fridays (232) had the most reported crashes.
• Four crashes were fatal: one in 2019, two in 2020 and one in 2023.

U.S. 62: 1,113 crashes

• The majority of the wrecks involve mature drivers over 50 (420) and drivers between the ages of 15 and 24.
• The wrecks were most likely to occur on Wednesday (184) and Friday (193).
• The worst time to be on the road is between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
• Since 2019, six crashes involved fatalities, but there have been no fatalities in 2023 and 2024.

S.R. 170: 1,058 crashes

• People 24 and under were involved in 318 crashes and mature drivers were involved in 472 crashes.
• Other crash variables included failure to yield (255) and running the red light (85).
• The worst time to drive was between 3 and 6 p.m. when 290 crashes occurred.
• Weekdays had significantly more wrecks than weekends and the last fatality was in 2022.

S.R. 46: 1,006 crashes

• More than half of the crashes on this road (509) involved mature drivers.
• Weekdays between 4 and 7 p.m. were the worst times to drive.
• Two fatal crashes occurred in the last five years, one in 2020 and another in 2022.

This story was originally published June 28, 2024 at 6:07 PM.

Mona Moore

Sun Herald

Mona Moore was a Service Journalism Desk Editor for the Sun Herald in Mississippi; Mahoning Matters in Ohio; and the Ledger-Enquirer and Telegraph in Georgia. Originally from West Covina, California, she holds a bachelor’s and master’s in corporate and public communication from the University of South Alabama. Mona’s writing and photography have been recognized by press associations in Mississippi, North Carolina and Florida.