DELPHOS — Because of its size, Delphos has a small amount of the things its residents would rather avoid — namely, crime. With less motorists on its roadways, the city is a safe place to drive but Delphos does have its share of auto accidents.
The Lima-Allen County Regional Planning Commission recently released statistical data for local crashes in 2006. Though there are a small number of accidents, most are due to driver error, not weather or amount of daylight.
There were 272 reported crashes for the year; most were at Elida Road and Fifth Street. More crashes occurred from 3-5 p.m. and more occurrences took place in January than in any other month.
The commission’s 65-page report indicates there were 14 accidents at the Elida Road/Fifth Street intersection, while 12 took place at Fifth Street and Fort Jennings Road and 11 happened at Pierce and Second streets.
Police Chief Dave Wagner says driver inattention and the volume of traffic are the reasons.
“With 14 accidents at Elida and Fifth, that’s a busy intersection and 3-5 p.m. is when kids get out of school and people are either getting off of work or going to work on Gressel Drive. If you take in to account how many people go through that intersection in a day, 14 is not outrageous,” he said.
The chief says accidents at the corner of Fifth Street and Fort Jennings Road are caused by the same factors.
“State Route 190 from Fort Jennings comes through there and it’s a busy intersection. Sometimes, it’s driver inattention; they don’t see the light change or they try to beat the light. Speed could be a factor from the east but coming from the west, there isn’t any signage but that doesn’t seem to be major factor because 12 of 272 is not abundant,” he said.
Sixty crashes took place on Fridays; 52 on Saturdays and Tuesdays; and 42 on Wednesdays. The most dangerous holiday was Halloween (eight incidents accounting for 36.4 percent).
The report indicates 188 of the 272 accidents took place during daylight hours. It also reports 150 of the total occurred in clear weather conditions.
Only two of all accidents in the year were fatalities and 28 caused visible injuries.
Driver error, especially failure to yield, was reported as the prevalent cause.
“Failure to yield is the number one reason for fatal accidents in Allen County. Everybody’s in a hurry. They basicall, stop at a stop sign or red light and they look both ways but are distracted for that momentary instant and pull out in front of somebody. Most of the accidents I have reviewed in Allen County are at rural intersections. They pull up and stop but for some reason, they pull right out in front of someone,” Wagner said.
More crashes involved those between the ages of 16 and 20 than any other age group. Teens and young adults were linked to 126 accidents, while senior citizens were involved in 50 of the total.
Of the young adults, 74 were males and 52 were females. Among older drivers in crashes, 12 were men and 38 were women.
Since 1997, there have been 104 alcohol-related crashes in Delphos. Of those, there were 20 in 2000. The estimated seat belt use was 50 percent.
“Years ago, our seat belt usage was very low in Delphos but with increased enforcement, we have gotten most people to comply with the seat belt law that keeps our number of injuries down,” Wagner added.
Over the 10-year period, the estimated seat belt usage in alcohol-related crashes was 72.9 percent and in speed-related crashes it was 76.3 percent.
Most alcohol-related accidents occurred at midnight, 2 a.m., 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Each time slot saw two accidents and the 2 that took place at 5 p.m. were fatalities and occurred on a Sunday.