The Ohio Department of Transportation has installed a flashing LED stop sign at the intersection of Hosford Road and state Route 44 in Chardon Township where last week’s fatal accident took place that killed two Chardon High School graduates.
A similar flashing sign was installed at the intersection of state Route 322 and Aquilla Road after a deadly collision at that intersection killed two Perry teens May 24.
Amanda McFarland, Public Information Officer for ODOT District 12, said any time a serious accident occurs on a state highway, the department looks at ways to potentially reduce future crashes, including drawing more attention to cross-traffic.
“It is a very tragic situation and we always offer our condolences when something like this happens on our ODOT systems,” she said.
The June 6 crash killed Dominic Ricci, 18, of Huntsburg Township, and Jackson Condon, 17, of Chardon, after Condon’s 2010 black Toyota Prius, traveling west on Hosford, failed to stop at the Route 44 intersection stop sign and a 2004 White Sterling commercial flatbed truck, operated by Sean Gates, 46, of Erie, Pa., traveling south on Route 44 struck Condon’s vehicle on the passenger side, officials reported.
Since high speed cross-traffic on the two state routes does not stop, “we want (the stop signs) to draw as much attention as possible,” McFarland said by phone.
Residents eager to see a traffic signal installed at Hosford Road will have to wait for the results of a traffic signal warrant study, which ODOT has already started. Three of the nine total criteria to qualify for installation of a signal are related to traffic volume, and only one of the three needs to be met for a signal to be installed.
McFarland added, however, ODOT engineers would also examine the project to decide whether a traffic signal would impede traffic instead of helping it flow smoothly.
In order to be sure that they are getting the best representation of how that intersection functions, ODOT will study it when traffic is at its peak, when school starts this fall, she said.
“Our engineers talked to Geauga County officials and they agreed that would be the time to get the best representation of how that intersection functions,” McFarland said.