By Marci Piltz

Record-Courier staff writer

The Ravenna Post of the Ohio Highway Patrol is continuing to focus its efforts on some of the most dangerous intersections in Portage County.

Lt. Mike Marucci, commander of the Ravenna post, said recently that 17 percent of all crashes seen between 2005 and approximately July of 2007 occurred at intersections. Of those crashes, more than a fourth -- 29 percent --occurred between the hours of 2 and 4 p.m.

"We've been working on two things here: Problem site identification and problem behavior identification," Marucci said. "The highest number of intersection-related crashes in Portage County occur from motorists failing to yield at intersections. We're going to pay particular attention to those kinds of crash-causing violations and we will be issuing citations."

Marucci recently contacted the Statistical Analysis Unit at the Columbus headquarters of the patrol and compiled a list and map of the 15 most dangerous intersections in Portage County.

In no particular order, the intersections on the list include:

* S.R. 44 and Pioneer Trail in Mantua

* S.R. 59 and Rhodes Road in Franklin Township

* S.R. 14 and S.R. 44 in Ravenna Townsip

* Newton Falls Road and Woodbine Avenue in Ravenna Township

* Summit Road and Powdermill Road in Franklin Township

* S.R. 303 and S.R. 700 in Freedom

* S.R. 5 and New Milford Road in Ravenna Township

* S.R. 44 and Lynn Road in Rootstown

* Interstate 76 and S.R. 14 in Edinburg

* I-76 and S.R. 43 in Brimfield

* S.R. 43 and Tallmadge Road in Brimfield

* S.R. 43 and Old Forge Road in Brimfield

* S.R. 43 and Trares Road in Suffield

* Tallmadge Road and New Milford Road in Rootstown

* U.S. 224 and S.R. 225 in Deerfield

The study was used to help troopers determine which areas of Portage County need more focus, Marucci said, and will be used in enforcement blitzes to help the patrol reach its goal through the LifeStat 1.0 program. The program aims to reduce traffic crash deaths in Ohio to one per 100 million vehicle miles traveled by Dec. 31, 2007.

"We need to make the public more aware of how and where these crashes are occurring, get motorists to buckle up and be more defensive in their driving habits," Marucci said. "If we do that, we can still reach our goal."

Marucci said troopers will be working with local police departments to identify other high-crash corridors and "making concerted efforts to be there looking for crash causing violations."

"We're also going to continue an overall team effort to enforce traffic laws. We also hope to use our aviation unit by having troopers in certain areas waiting for the pilot to observe a violation and relay that information so the troopers on the ground can make a stop and make citations," Marucci said. "We really want to reduce the number of crashes caused by failure to yield and other violations that usually result in higher instances of injuries or death."