2000 Ohio Crash Frequency by County and Selected Cities

Crash frequency is greater in areas of higher traffic density. It makes sense—the greater the number of vehicles on the road in an area, the greater the chance for involvement in a car crash.

To illustrate, during 2000 the 247,995 registered vehicles in Cincinnati were involved in 15,772 crashes, a ratio of 1 crash for every 15.7 registered vehicles. The 519,218 vehicles in the remainder of Hamilton County were involved in 19,237 crashes, a ratio of 1 crash for every 27 registered vehicles. For the sake of comparison, the 18,908 registered vehicles in Monroe County were involved in only 315 crashes, a ratio of 1 crash for every 60 vehicles. The average statewide ratio was 1 crash for every 30.4 registered vehicles.

The tables below show the number of motor vehicle registrations, crashes and a ratio of crashes to vehicles within each Ohio county. Cities within counties are listed where information was available.

* No data was available for a city within the county

Sources—Crashes: Ohio Department of Public Safety,
2000 Ohio Traffic Crash Facts; Registrations: Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates that fatal crashes involving 10 vehicles or more are becoming increasingly common. Deadly pileups in the US increased by 8% in the 1990s, compared with the 1980s. (USA Today, 3/29/01)

A study from the AAA Foundation suggests that car radios may be the culprit in many of the crashes caused by driver distraction. A survey conducted through the foundation’s Web site indicated that 70% of the car models before 1990 had radios with fewer than 11 buttons while only 35% of the more recent models had radios with fewer than 11 buttons. (The NY Times, 3/2/01)