Officials say the plan will analyze crash data and patterns, roadway characteristics and driver behaviors to offer recommendations for new infrastructure projects and strategies to improve safety.
“It adds more tools to the toolbox and will help us make better decisions,” said David Escobar, Dayton’s city engineer.
Credit: Marshall Gorby
Credit: Marshall Gorby
Safety plan
Dayton is working with LJB Engineering to create a “safety action plan” that will analyze where crashes happen in the city, what roads and areas have high crash risks and which community members are disproportionately impacted by serious traffic collisions.
LJB Engineering recently shared data that show there were 684 crashes on Dayton roadways that resulted in severe injuries or death between 2019 and 2023.
Ninety-seven of the crashes were fatal. About 112 involved pedestrians; 83 involved motorcycles; and 25 involved bicycles.
About half of deadly and serious-injury crashes in the city occurred along just 5% of the city’s total road lane miles, said Cindy Yerkey, traffic and safety specialist with LJB Engineering. The city is home to more than 1,700 lane miles of roadway.
Not coincidentally, many crashes have taken place along stretches of some of the city’s busiest streets and thoroughfares, like Third Street, Main Street, Gettysburg Avenue, Salem Avenue, James H. McGee Boulevard, Keowee Street and Smithville Road.
The study will try to pin down some characteristics of high-crash roadways and then identify other roads in the city that have the same kinds of attributes and conditions.
The plan will recommend safety solutions, and the city plans to seek funding to implement at least some of the recommendations.
“This document will drive how we pursue funding and the capabilities of the funding that we go after,” Escobar said.
The city in recent years has taken various measures to try to reduce speeding, traffic crashes and dangerous and illegal driving behaviors.
For instance, the city installed speed bumps on Gettysburg Avenue a couple of years ago to combat “hooning” and stunt driving.
The city also has put some heavily traveled streets on “road diets,” which often reduce the lanes of travel, add parking and bike lanes, expand the sidewalk and improve pedestrian crossings.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
Crash data show that drivers in some collisions were speeding or had used drugs or alcohol or were driving while distracted.
But perhaps most notably, the data show that young drivers (ages 15 to 25) were involved in 31% of the serious collisions in the city during the five-year study period, Yerkey said. That’s roughly 15% of the total age range of drivers accounting for about double the share of the crashes in question.
“It was surprising to me that the highest proportion of crashes were attributable to those involving younger drivers,” Yerkey said. “That’s pretty significant — that’s going to help us identify the right solutions for your community.”
Officials say community feedback is an important part of the process to develop a safety plan.
Community members can provide input about what areas they think have the highest risks and the greatest safety needs. Officials say the safety plan should be complete by early August.
The study will focus on residential streets and major corridors and thoroughfares in the city. The study is not analyzing crashes on Interstate 75 and U.S. 35, though it likely will look at crashes that take place at on- and off-ramps.
Dayton was awarded a Safe Streets and Roads for All comprehensive safety action plan grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2022. The program, created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is providing billions of dollars in grants for safety planning and implementation.
How to provide input:
Dayton’s Road Safety Action Plan is accepting input from community members who travel on Dayton’s roadways. There are several ways to participate:
• Complete the public survey at daytonohio.gov/SS4A.
• Provide input on location-specific issues through an online map at daytonohio.gov/SS4A.
• Email or call: SS4ADayton@daytonohio.gov or 937-333-7233.
• Attend public meetings (to be announced, watch daytonohio.gov and city of Dayton social media channels). Get more information and updates daytonohio.gov/SS4A.
About the Author
