AKRON, Ohio — Sandi Churby of West Salem is hoping the Ohio Department of Transportation will move forward in installing its wrong-way driver detection system in Northeast Ohio as soon as possible.
Sandi lost her son, 27-year-old Clintin Churby, in awrong-way driver crash in Oct. 2020, after police reported 63-year-old Larry Miller was driving impaired and was driving in the wrong direction on I-76 near Akron when the collision took place.
Sandi is hoping the $1.8 million dollar project, which calls for the installation of flashing wrong-way signs at 25 ODOT exit and entrance ramps, in a 22-mile corridor of I-71 and I-90 in Cuyahoga County, will be completed in 2023. However, ODOT told News 5 the project, which would detect wrong-way drivers and more quickly contact police, can't be expedited due to ongoing supply chain issues.
"The sooner the better, it looks like there’s been at least one wrong-way driver per month," Sandi said. “There has to be other options that can be put up sooner, quicker. If they have supply issues right now, then move on to the next product."
ODOT Press Secretary Matt Bruning told News he'shoping the project can be put out for bid in May, and start in late summer or early fall and be completed in early 2024. Bruning told News 5 the project is worth the wait and has showed great impact in reducing the number of wrong-way drivers in other parts of Ohio.
“We have a history of seeing these things being effective, we have seen this work in Columbus, we seen this work in Cincinnati and we have no reason to believe that it won’t work in Cleveland," Bruning said. “The problem that we’re having is supply chain issues, a lot of the technology that we need to build into the system is just slow to materialize. So we are still on schedule, but we’re not able to accelerate that schedule because of supply chain issues.
Bruning said wrong-way crashes only make up no more than one-tenth-of-one percent of all crashes in Ohio, however, they are 40 times more likely to be deadly.
Sandi is hoping ODOT will also add the wrong-way driver detection system at ramps in Summit and Wayne counties in the near future, especially at locations where there have been multiple wrong-way driver incidents.
Sandi is also urging motorists not to drive while impaired, since the majority of wrong-way driving takes place while the person behind the wheel was intoxicated.
“There’s Uber, Lyft, friends, or just don’t go, stay home if you have to drink, there’s no excuse for it nowadays," Sandi said.
“Everyone is going to start going north, going to the concerts, going to the games, getting out with more people, just don’t drink and drive, make a plan."
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
