Portage County Ohio Car Accident Attorney Discusses Statistics

Named for the port that connects the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas Rivers, Portage County is home to over 152,000 residents. Of those 152,000-plus residents, 77,269 live in the various townships throughout the county, while many more live in the Akron area. The Akron area is counted independently by the Ohio Department of Public Safety, which publishes traffic accident reports each year. Those traffic accident reports focus on the 77,269 non-Akronites that live in Portage County.

Overall, Portage County has recorded 2,291 total traffic accidents in 2007 as well as 22 traffic-related fatalities that were the direct results of 21 unique traffic accidents. 2008 saw another 2,462 traffic accidents go on the books of Portage County, along with 13 more traffic related fatalities. The year to year increase in total traffic accidents of almost 7.5% between the two years is certainly significant given the size of the data set.

Unfortunately, the explanation for the increase is not to be found in the numbers. That is not to say that the numbers do not tell tales, because they do. The tale that the numbers published by the Ohio Department of Public Safety tell is one of a county that simply became more dangerous for motorists from one year to the next. Some of the townships in Portage County have tales of their own that are worth paying close attention to.

It might be best to start with the townships in Portage County that reported the greatest number of overall traffic accidents during 2007, which were: Ravenna with a total of 293 traffic accidents, Brimfield with 290, Rootstown with 209, Franklin with 184, Shalersville with 179, Freedom with 154, and Edinburg with 150 total traffic accidents on file. The Township of Ravenna is the largest of the townships that the Ohio Department of Public Safety tracks in Portage County, and also happens to be the county seat. With 9,720 residents, it is a little unusual to see Ravenna competing with the significantly smaller township of Brimfield, which is only called home by 7,963 residents.

Even stranger is the fact that the Township of Freedom is home to barely a 2,700 people, or slightly more than a quarter of the number of people that live in the Township of Ravenna. The Township of Ravenna again figured prominently into the 2008 total trash statistics with 332 total traffic accidents, and was followed by: Brimfield with 278, Shalersville with 213, Rootstown with 210, Franklin with 209, and Freedom with 174 total traffic accidents on file.

While Edinburg saw more traffic-related fatalities than any other township in Portage County during the course of 2007, the town did not see even a single traffic-related fatality the following year. In fact, the entire county seemed to be focusing on road safety the following year, at least in terms of non-fatal collisions. Part of this may be due to the decline in alcohol-related traffic fatalities, down to 4 in 2008 from 6 the previous years.


If you've been seriously injured or have lost a loved one in a Ravenna Township, Brimfield Township, or Rootstown Township truck / car accident, call the Portage County auto accident and wrongful death attorneys / lawyers at Chester Law Group at 1-800-218-4243 or order your FREE BOOK entitled The Insider’s Guide to Handling Ohio Accident Claims at www.ChesterLaw.com.

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