COLUMBUS – The state has announced a new system of highway signs that will use technology to detect traffic congestion and warn drivers of dangerous slow-downs in hopes of reducing deadly “end-of-queue” crashes, such as the one that killed six people in Licking County in November.
“End-of-queue” crashes happen when drivers fail to recognize slowing or stopped traffic on the freeway ahead, resulting in a collision with vehicles at the end of the slow-down.
The warning systems and digital signs will be installed at 13 locations in and around major cities, six of them in central Ohio (see map), Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Transportation director Jack Marchbanks announced.
The sites were selected based on traffic congestion, the number and severity of rear-end crashes, and other factors.
The automated traffic queue warning systems use similar technology to ODOT’s wrong-way driver detection systems currently in place in Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton, which alert drivers who mistake highway exit ramps for on-ramps.
The first was activated Thursday on I-70 in Licking County near the site of the crash involving a charter bus carrying students from the Tuscarawas Valley Local School District.
According to ODOT, end-of-queue highway crashes have been increasing over the past three years to 8,811 crashes in 2023. Once the technology is installed at all 13 sites, ODOT anticipates it will help reduce these rear-end crashes by at least 16%,