Named after American Army officer Eleazer D. Wood, Wood County is located just south of Lake Erie in northern Ohio. Home to 121,065 residents, almost half of which live in the Toledo Metropolitan area and are thus not counted by the Ohio Department of Public Safety as county residents, Wood County covers a majestic 621 square miles. Of those 621 square miles, 3 to 4 are covered in water during a significant portion of the year. This means that the entire county is prone to humidity as well as adverse weather conditions, a particularly dangerous combination for motorists.
Despite the difficult driving conditions presented to motorists in Wood County during a significant portion of the year, the overall statistics relating to traffic accidents reported by the Ohio Department of Public Safety seem only slightly on the dangerous side. During 2007, Wood County recorded a grand total of 1,970 traffic accidents as well as 19 traffic related fatalities that were the product of 19 separate traffic accidents. 2008 saw another 1,880 traffic accidents go on the books of Wood County, along with 14 more traffic-related fatalities that were the result of 13 unique traffic accidents.
The townships in Wood County that reported the greatest overall number of traffic accidents during 2007 were: Perrysburg with 431, Lake with 321, Center with 165, Middleton with 148, and Troy with a total of 132 traffic accidents. As previously noted, 2008 was a much safer year for motorists in Wood County, and this fact is reflected in the overall traffic accidents reported by each of the most dangerous townships in Wood County: Perrysburg with 385 traffic accidents, Lake with 285, Center with 154, Middleton with 147, and Troy with 119 traffic accidents.
The Township of Perrysburg is home to 13,612 residents and is the most populated township in Wood County by the methods used by the Ohio Department of Public Safety. As such, it is not surprising to see the Township of Perrysburg sit atop the list of overall dangerous townships for motorists in Wood County two years running. Nor is it strange for the Township of Lake, home to 10,350, to rank second on the same lists as it is the second most populated township in all of Wood County by the same methods used by the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
The first real interesting per capita traffic accident statistics come when looking at the population of the Township of Center, home to only 1,246 people. This means that over 13% of the residents of the Township of Center that reside in the limits of Wood County can expect to experience a traffic accident every tear! These figures are particularly alarming and may have something to do with a large number of alcohol-related traffic accidents reported in the Township of Center. 8 traffic accidents in the Township of Center were linked to alcohol during 2007, as well as another 9 the next year. With only 98 alcohol-related traffic accidents reported in all of Wood County during 2007, and another 82 the following year, the Township of Center seems particularly dangerous from an alcohol-related traffic accidents per capita standpoint.
If you’ve been seriously injured or have lost a loved one in a Center Township, Perrysburg Township, or Lake Township truck / car accident, call the Wood 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.