SIDNEY — Statistics gathered by local law enforcement agencies is used by the Shelby County Engineer’s Office to see if there are trends on where accidents are occurring in the county.

Engineer Bob Geuy told members of the Governor’s Community Traffic Safety Network of Shelby County the OH1 crash data reports are submitted to the Department of Public Safety, which makes the data available to various agencies. Two years ago, he said, the department began using a program on the Ohio Department of Transportation’s website that has crash data that is 30 to 60 days old.

“We can look at an area and select a year to see how many accidents there were then. We can also see what type of accident it was,” said Geuy.

One of the largest causes of accidents, he said, is the driver running off the road.

“We investigate every injury accident to make sure it wasn’t a road or signage issue,:” said Geuy.

Fair Road from Miami Conservancy Road to Sidney is the site for numerous accidents during two peak periods: 6 to 8 a.m, and 4:30 to 6 p.m.

“There are a lot of running off the road accidents,” said Geuy. “This is a shift change corridor of people driving into work and going home in the afternoon.”

Geuy said the office also uses GIS maps and GPS to locate and see trends of accidents throughout the county.

In 2014, the office received a safety grant through ODOT which has been used to increase signage throughout the county. The signs include “cross traffic doesn’t stop,” “curve ahead” and the names of the roads on the crossroads signs.

Safety statistics were given by Lt. Tim Bender, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office; Trooper Ross Reed, Piqua Post of the Ohio Highway Patrol; and Sidney Police Chief Will Balling.

Bender said in 2015 so far, there have been two fatal accidents in the county. There have been 102 injury accidents and 322 property damage accidents. There have been a total of 426 accidents handled by the Sheriff’s Office.

Of the accidents, 289 were caused by driver error and 118 were caused by animals, primarily deer. There were 19 accidents where the cause was unknown.

By age group, 42 of the accidents had drivers under the age of 18. There were 37 accidents were the drivers were between the ages of 18 to 20; 65 accidents with drivers 21 to 29 years of age; 31 accidents with drivers 30 to 39 years of age; 32 accidents with drivers 40 to 49 years old; and 73 accidents where drivers were 50 or older.

There were 143 injuries in the accidents with seven ejections. There were nine extrication by mechanical means, while there was another eight extrications by non-mechanical means.

There were 44 citations issued for failure to control, 20 for failure to yield at a stop or yield sign and 15 for assured clear distance. There were 15 citations issued for driving under the influence of either alcohol or drugs.

Balling said his department investigated one fatality this year. there have been 463 accidents in the city since the beginning of the year. There have been 78 OVI charges filed. There have been 1,161 citations issued by officers.

There have been 405 citations of no operator’s license or driving under suspension and 56 seat belt violations.

The officers have record 5,709 traffic stops, up from the 7,257 in 2014, said Balling. There have been 21,397 calls for service since Jan. 1.

Balling said the department is planning an OVI enforcement blitz during the holiday season. He said one of the most dangerous days of the year is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving because of all the increased holiday travel and the number of students home from college.

Reed reported that there have been 2,582 enforcement stops through Oct. 18 by the Piqua Post, which covers Shelby, Miami and Darke counties. There have been 4,336 non-enforcement activities, which includes 2,592 warnings given to drivers and 1,280 motorist assists.

There have been 237 crashes thus far this year, he said. With OVI enforcement, there have been 82 citations. There have been 93 driving under suspension enforcement tickets given and 292 seat belt enforcement tickets given.

There have been nine felony arrests and three felony warrants served. There have been 55 drug violations and seven resisting arrest violations.

Reed said there will be a seat belt blitz program next month. He said the post has 10 troopers and will be getting two more in the near future — one in January and one in March.

Sidney Fire Chief Brad Jones said in September the department went on 78 fire calls, bringing the total for the year to 607 calls. They assisted with one township fire in September, for a total of 47 in 2015. there was one mutual aid call.

There were 274 EMS calls in September. The total for the year thus far is 2,239. the total fire and EMS calls for 2015 is 2,909, up 227 calls from the same period in 2014.

Total fire loss in the city of Sidney in September, said Jones, was $80,000. The total fire loss in the city in September 2014 was $508,000, which was a house fire at 1429 Foxdale Place. The property was valued at $400,000 and the contents at $100,000.

The year to date total fire loss is $687,555, slightly down from $714,055 in 2014.

Township stats, shared Jones, include 43 fires and non-EMS calls in Clinton, Orange, Franklin and Washington townships. there was one township EMS call (not in the city of Sidney) and that was in Clinton Township.

Tony Brown, ODOT, reported District 7 is wrapping up the state Route 47 project from Port Jefferson to the county line. The striping on the road was done correctly, so it will have to be redone.

“The interstate project that was supposed to be done this year — it’s not going to be done,” said Brown. “They (Barrett Paving) got behind on the ramps.”

The rain in May, June and July also caused construction delays.

“The top coat won’t be done and the ramps won’t be done,” said Brown. “By Nov. 2, all the barriers will be down. They will be done by Nov. 10. They told us the completion date would be the middle of December but you can’t do asphalt in December. They’re going to finish up now and then complete it next year.”

Brown said the top coat isn’t on the interstate from River Bridge to Lehman Catholic High School.

“The middle coat will be OK for the winter,” said Brown.

Geuy said the county’s projects are also wrapping up for the season. The paving is all done and a culvert replacement is currently in progress.

In 2019, he said, the Fair Road bridge over the CSX Railroad, by Sidney Middle School and the Shelby County Fairgrounds, will be replaced. Bids will be received in 2019 and the project will begin before school is out in 2019. The project will take between 6 to 9 months and their will be at least one lane of traffic open during the project.

A bridge project at Fair Road and Water Street is planned for next spring. There will be a six week full closure of the street for the project.

The committee’s next meeting will be Jan. 19, at Sidney Municipal Court.