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Esteemed researchers earlier this week trumpeted results of international studies that concluded traffic crashes and fatalities in the United States and most developed nations on the globe continue to cruise on a steady downward slide.
Global rates of road injuries and deaths each fell more than 30% over the past four decades, according to the study published Monday in Lancet Public Health, a highly prestigious medical journal. The World Health Organization within the United Nations this week added its own spin to that encouraging news in reporting road traffic deaths declined by 21% nationwide and worldwide between 2011 and 2025.
Sadly, Ohio in general and Trumbull County in particular cannot join in that downward momentum. Here, the news is more troubling. In both the state and the county, fatal traffic crashes and deaths are disturbingly climbing uphill.
In Ohio, the state is on course to break a four-yearlong trend of steadily declining deaths from traffic crashes. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the total number of fatal crashes in the Buckeye State as of Tuesday of this week was 585, a nearly 10% increase over the number reported up to this period in 2025.
In Trumbull County, the percentage spike is much sharper. According to OSHP dashboard data, fatal traffic crashes in the county have risen 57% so far this year over this time last year. The percentage figure may sound overly alarming considering the increase is from 11 so far in 2026 compared with seven at this point last year. But even one motorist, one motorcyclist or one pedestrian needlessly killed is one too many.
In contrast, nearby Mahoning County finds itself on track to keep pace with the encouraging national and global trends. There, nine fatal traffic crashes have been logged so far this year, compared with 11 at this time last year, for about a 20% decline. Still, that's nine deaths too many.
Such data illustrates that OSHP must keep up and even intensify aggressive enforcement of laws governing impaired driving, distracted driving and speeding, the three major causes for crashes from minor fender benders to total losses of property and lives.
As Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine urged at the start of the so-called 100 Deadliest Days for traffic crashes from Memorial Day to Labor Day, "I encourage all motorists to do their part in promoting traffic safety by buckling up and never driving distracted or impaired."
In Trumbull County, nearly half of the 2026 deaths have been tied to impaired operators of vehicles. That runs counter to the statewide trend of consistent declines in OVI-related crashes and fatalities in recent years. In Mahoning County, for example, only one OVI-related fatal crash has been reported so far this year.
In addition to impaired driving, distracted driving has become a growing threat to highway safety. Though the OSHP does not break down distracted driving crashes by county, it does report 1,608 fatal or serious-injury crashes in the state since 2021, with that rate slightly increasing this year.
That's why we encourage state and local traffic patrols to vigilantly work to remove such menaces to highway safety. According to OSHP, citations for distracted driving violations have increased statewide from 25,645 last year to 31,143 so far this year. Mahoning County mirrors that trend, with such citations rising from 585 in 2025 to 1,012 through mid-July 2026. Trumbull County, however, has strangely enough witnessed a decline in such citations from 472 in the first half of 2025 to 375 this year.
Of course, the key factor in avoiding such crashes is personal responsibility. Talking or texting on mobile phones, eating and other distractions can cause crashes with lifelong consequences for both violators and their victims.
As OSHP Sgt. Ryan Purpura put it, "People don't often realize the time it takes to send a text message or read that text message. At highway speeds, you can cover the length of a football field while your eyes are off the roadway."
Clearly, the consequences of such impulsive actions can be deadly.
That's why it's critical that Trumbull County motorists -- and all motorists -- follow the simple rules to avoid roadway carnage of all varieties: Wear your seatbelt, observe the speed limit, drive completely sober and eliminate any and all driving distractions.
In so doing, Trumbull County and Ohio can still have a fighting chance to reverse course and continue the promising trend of fewer and fewer deaths and injuries on our roads during the second half of this year.