Vinton County Ohio Car Accident Attorney Discusses Statistics

Located along the southern edge of the heart of Ohio, Vinton County is named after Congressman Samuel Finley Vinton. With only 12,806 residents, Vinton County is sparsely populated despite covering 415 square miles. Vinton County lists McArthur as its county seat, but the Ohio Department of Public Safety has no record of traffic accidents in that particular township. This may be caused by the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s tendency to evaluate cities and larger townships as micropolitan areas rather than part of the county or counties in which they exist.

The Ohio Department of Public Safety recorded a total of 313 traffic accidents on the roads of Vinton County during 2007, and another 332 the following year. These numbers are well within expectations, though there appears to be a slightly high number of traffic-related fatalities with 4 on the books during 2007 and another 5 on record during 2008. It is unclear whether these numbers are simply anomalies due to a limited data set or indications of potential problems.

The townships that reported the most overall traffic accidents in Vinton County during 2007 were: Elk with 62 traffic accidents, Richland with 48, Clinton with 44, Vinton with 28, and 27 accidents each for Harrison and Swan. 2008 saw a near-repeat of these statistics: Elk with 58 traffic accidents, Clinton with 54, Richland with 47, Vinton with 39, and Wilkesville with 26 traffic accidents.

It is not particularly surprising that the Township of Elk dominates the Ohio Department of Public Safety list of most traffic-accident prone townships in Vinton County considering that it is home to 3,134 residents, half again as large as its nearest local rival. The Township of Clinton is the next most populated township in Vinton County, with 2,045 residents. Despite this, the Township of Clinton seems to rival the Township of Richland for second place on the Ohio Department of Public Safety list of most traffic-accident prone townships in Vinton County. Considering the fact that Richland is home to only 1,667 people, this particular fact is a little alarming and marks Richland as comparatively dangerous for motorists when evaluating total traffic accidents on a per capita basis.

2007 saw the small Township of Swan, home to only 796 residents, experienced a pair of fatal traffic accidents. Add to this the fact that the Township of Swan ranked third in overall traffic-related injuries during 2007 might indicated difficult driving conditions or a lack of proper law enforcement during that period. Only 11 injuries were reported on the roads of the Township of Swan during 2008, and no fatalities. In fact, there were no townships in Vinton County that reported multiple traffic fatalities during 2008, leaving only the following townships reporting a single traffic-related fatality: Elk, Clinton, Jackson, and Vinton. Of those fatal traffic accidents, only the incident in Jackson proved to be alcohol-related.

Only 22 of the traffic accidents in Vinton County during 2007 were linked to alcohol, but a total of 33 alcohol-related traffic accidents went on the books of Vinton County during 2008. This makes Vinton County a reasonably dry place, but more data may be needed before drawing any meaningful conclusions.

If you’ve been seriously injured or have lost a loved one in a Swan Township, Elk Township, or Richland Township truck / car accident, call the Vinton County auto accident and wrongful death attorneys/lawyers at Chester Law Group at 800-218-4243 or order your FREE BOOK entitled The Insider’s Guide to Handling Ohio Accident Claims at www.ChesterLaw.com.