Residents of Area Near Crash Site Petition, Plea for Traffic Signal
Upstairs in her home through an open window, Michaelanne Cyvas heard the sound of a truck slamming on its brakes.
Upstairs in her home through an open window, Michaelanne Cyvas heard the sound of a truck slamming on its brakes.
Her mother, Diane, heard it, too.
The pair recounted the trauma of coming upon the scene of the accident that claimed the lives of Dom Ricci and Jackson Condon to the June 8 Chardon City Council meeting.
The Chardon High School graduates were killed when Jackson’s car was struck by a truck traveling southbound on state Route 44. The Cyvas house is at the intersection of Hosford Road and Route 44.
“My son is grieving the loss of his best friend right now,” Diane told council. “It should be the best summer of his life and I don’t want to see any more accidents on that intersection.”
The family is working to petition the Ohio Department of Transportation to install a traffic signal at the intersection in hopes it would improve what Diane sees as the “deadliest intersection in Chardon.”
In a video interview available on the Geauga County Maple Leaf’s website, Diane said she didn’t believe the teens killed last week ran the stop sign at Hosford Road, as eyewitnesses have stated, since Condon was a careful driver and the intersection is a dangerous one for even experienced drivers.
“That truck could have been in that blind spot,” she explained. “I don’t believe those boys blew through that stop sign. I don’t believe it for a second, because everyone in Chardon knows that is a dangerous intersection and you don’t ever blow through that stop sign.”
Michealanne’s aunt Sue Clementi accompanied her to the June 13 meeting of the Geauga County Commissioners at which she stated the same opinion, and wondered if the truck involved in the accident was speeding.
When the roads were put in and speed limits were set, the area wasn’t so developed, she told commissioners. But now with all of the added traffic, “Something has to be done,” Clementi said.
Commissioner Ralph Spidalieri, who had met with the Cyvas family and Clementi over the weekend, thanked them for working for change.
“There’s always something good that comes out of something bad,” he told them at Tuesday’s meeting.
Speaking from over 20 years of police work, he told them they might never know the lives they’ll save by what they’re doing today.
He also made it clear no one is pushing for Geauga County to “become like the City of Cleveland, with a stoplight at every intersection,” but that the ODOT has finally focused its attention on the county, which has not happened in many years.
Another resident troubled by the amount of accidents near his home is Robert Corsi, who also lives near the Hosford intersection. He, too, heard last week’s fatal accident from his yard and has witnessed three other accidents this year alone.
“This accident is the most recent and the most emotional one, but we’ve been having a ton of accidents there,” Corsi told the Maple Leaf by phone.
Corsi called the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Chardon post and received a copy of crash statistics from the Ohio Department of Public Safety showing 93 crashes on the stretch of Route 44 between Colburn and Hosford Roads, with almost 20 percent of the crashes resulting in injuries and one fatal crash before last week’s.
He also called Chardon Township’s Road Superintendent John Washco, who is encouraged by local residents taking action to slow down that section of road.
“There’s times in the winter where traffic is so bad that it’s taken us over 10 minutes to get across the road when we’re plowing snow,” Washco said. “I’ve actually had to head north to catch Colburn Road to turn around to come back south because traffic is so bad.”
He is in favor of any plan that will reduce the speed of traffic along what he sees as a dangerous stretch of road because while working with road crews, he has seen a dramatic increase in distracted driving, and any solution to make people slow down and pay attention is worth considering.
“It may take you an extra five minutes to get off I-90 from Chardon to sit in traffic anyhow,” Washco said. “What’s the harm in adding these lights to make the intersections safer?”
Washco encouraged Corsi to gather neighbors, parents and community members at next week’s Chardon Township Trustees meeting to push for the installation of a traffic signal.
“I was going to do this a lot sooner, but I put it on the back burner for some reason,” Corsi said. “After this accident, I realized I couldn’t keep my mouth shut any longer. This is people’s lives we’re talking about.”
The township will likely request a study from ODOT to determine whether a traffic signal would be recommended at the intersection.
Last Thursday, City Engineer Doug Courtney told the Cyvases while he supports a safer intersection, because Route 44 is a state route in a rural area, and a limited access highway, the state may resist adding a traffic signal in order to maintain traffic flow.
Corsi hopes a traffic survey shows the need for a light, even if it is inconvenient or costs money. To him, it is a matter of saving lives.
Michealanne spent Saturday at Joey’s Italian Grille on Center Street, talking with members of the community and gathering signatures on her petition. She and her mother are hopeful a change is coming.
“This is a tight knit town,” Diane said. “We work together.”
Michealanne’s petition will be available to sign in the front office at Chardon High School Monday through Friday from 7:30-2:30 p.m.
The next meeting of the Chardon Township Trustees will be held at 9949 Mentor Road, Chardon Township, and will begin at 7:00 p.m.
