A recent car crash in Columbus inspired GOPC to do some thinking about a trend we have seen on the rise far too often in Ohio of late. Specifically, an uptick in cars crashing into buildings.

There are a number of reasons that cause this to happen. In the past four years, crash reports--accessible from the Ohio Department of Public Safety --cite a number of causes such as distracted driving, medical emergencies, and, of course, operating vehicles under the influence. In one high profile incident, which also occurred in Columbus, the driver claims that the cause of the crash was the failure of the cars brakes (though a lack of investigation into the incident leaves this matter in question).  

The most recent incident which occurred was on March 1 when a driver drove their car through the front entrance of Taft’s Brewing Company in Columbus. According to the traffic crash report, the suspect in that incident was driving at a high rate of speed (a witness said that the driver “blew past him in the left lane… observed his tires smoking as he changed lanes, lost control and struck [the building].” Video of the incident taken by a CCTV camera shows the car driving into the building. The brewery’s manager states that he had to stop the driver of the car from trying to back the car out the building before police arrived.

While the ultimate cause of the crash will likely be determined to be a combination of speed and failure to control, it begs this question: why was the car driving so fast? Certainly, that was a decision made by the operator of the vehicle to make. But are there other factors which would have led to this crash occurring in this particular location?

The accident occurred on West Broad Street in the Franklinton neighborhood. The road, which carries U.S. Route 40, carries four lanes of traffic, along with a center turn lane. There are also two striped but unprotected bike lanes on either side of the roadway. This is a slight improvement from the former design of the road, which previously featured five lanes, no center turn lane, and no bike lanes.

Still, Columbus and many other cities across Ohio are full of roads that are designed to function more as urban highways than as roadways. The downtown section of this same street adjacent to the Ohio Statehouse features seven traffic lanes along with an eighth lane reserved for stopping/parking.

Just a few years ago, Interstate 71 a mile from this location featured only three lanes in either direction.

When roadways are designed to function like highways, motorists frequently treat them as such. Last year, researchers at Ohio State University published a study of so-called “open roads” in the journal Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science. Based upon a review of Columbus-area crash data between 2018 and 2019, the study found that leafy, residential streets had 12.4% fewer crashes than open, residential streets, while built-up, urban streets had 21.7% more serious and fatal crashes.

“Our results suggest that many urban roads tell people it is safe to drive fast when it really is not – and the result is more serious and fatal crashes,” said Harvey Miller, Professor, Reusche Chair in Geographic Information Science and Director of the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA) at the Ohio State University, one of the co-authors of the study.

While Columbus recently lowered the speed limit on roadways within the downtown core to 25 mph, the study suggests that this action alone will not have as much impact on changing driver behavior as much as the road design would.

So what changes can be made to roadway design to slow down traffic and reduce crashes?

Traffic engineers have a variety of tools and design elements that can be employed that are intended to help to slow down traffic that is moving through cities. Simple tools include speed humps, speed cushions, or speed tables – permanent or temporary infrastructure that is designed to slow down vehicles passing through an area.

When designing, or redesigning roadways, a number of options are available chicanes/road lane shifts, medians and refuge islands, mini roundabouts, even different types of pavement and roadway appearance that can signal to motorists that they should slow down.

Charles Marohn and others have talked about the importance of a street feeling unpredictable or “a bit dangerous” to encouraging drivers to slow down. The possibility of cars pulling out, pedestrians on the side, fluctuating lane width, uneven visibility all help to introduce uncertainty, and thus, lower speeds.

Cleveland Avenue in downtown Columbus is a good example of how a roadway can be redesigned to inspire traffic to slow down. In 2014, the roadway adjacent to Columbus State Community College was a four lane roadway.

Will such changes prevent cars from driving into buildings? Probably not entirely. Drivers will always misbehave and medical emergencies behind the wheel will still happen. But anything that can help to slow drivers down and encourages less reckless behavior is an effort which can and will help save lives.

Cover image via WBNS 10TV Columbus.