A 37-year-old Sardinia man is dead after a four-vehicle crash Sunday night on State Route 138 in rural Hamer Township, when troopers say his car crossed left of the center line into oncoming traffic. Daniel Vance was pronounced dead at the scene, while a 17-year-old driver suffered minor injuries and an adult driver was also treated for minor injuries.
The crash happened around 8:49 p.m. near milepost 8 on SR-138, according to WCPO 9 News, which reported that Vance was driving a 1973 Plymouth Duster southwest on the two-lane highway when the vehicle crossed into the northeast-bound lane. The Ohio State Highway Patrol identified 20-year-old Levi Holden of Mount Orab as the driver of a 2019 Ford Ranger involved in the pileup, according to The Times Gazette.
Preliminary findings from troopers indicate Vance and Holden were both traveling southwest on SR-138, while two 17-year-old male drivers — one in a 2004 Dodge Dakota and the other in a 2008 Chevy Colorado — were heading northeast, before Vance's Duster crossed left of center. Vance's car struck the Dodge Dakota, and separately collided with the Chevy Colorado, according to WCPO. The station reported that Holden's Ford Ranger then hit the Dodge Dakota after the initial impact, creating a chain-reaction crash involving all four vehicles.
Multi-Agency Response Converges on Rural Highway
Troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol's Wilmington Post were joined at the scene by the Highland County Sheriff's Office, Paint Creek Joint EMS/Fire District, Lynchburg Joint Fire & Ambulance District, the Highland County Coroner's Office, and T&G Towing, per the same account from the Times Gazette. The Paint Creek Joint EMS/Fire District, created in 2011 to consolidate rural emergency services, covers more than 360 square miles across Highland, Ross, and Fayette counties and serves 10 townships and two state parks, according to the district's own description of its coverage area.
Names of the two 17-year-old drivers have not been released, in keeping with juvenile privacy policies. The crash remains under investigation, and OSHP's Wilmington Post has not yet filed a final report, so what caused Vance's car to cross the center line — whether speed, mechanical failure in the vintage vehicle, distraction, or impairment — remains an open question that troopers have not addressed publicly.
What Ohio Law Says About Crossing the Center Line
Under Ohio Revised Code Section 4511.25, drivers are required to keep to the right half of the roadway, and failing to do so is a traffic offense unless a driver is passing safely or turning left, according to North Canton Codified Ordinances. Ohio Supreme Court precedent has also established that skidding or losing control of a vehicle does not excuse a driver from that statutory duty to stay right of center, per O'Connor Acciani & Levy.
Because the crash occurred at 8:49 p.m., well within permitted hours for teen drivers, the two 17-year-olds involved were not violating Ohio's Graduated Driver Licensing restrictions, which otherwise impose nighttime curfews and passenger limits on probationary license holders during their first 12 months of driving, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
A Familiar Pattern on Highland County's Roads
Sunday's crash echoes previous left-of-center collisions on Highland County's rural routes. A March 2023 head-on crash on SR-138 in the county's Liberty Township killed two people after a pickup truck crossed into oncoming traffic, according to the Wilmington News Journal. In April 2026, a Highland County Sheriff's deputy and another driver were critically injured on U.S. Route 62 in Liberty Township when a northbound pickup crossed left of center and struck the deputy's patrol vehicle head-on, per 10TV WBNS.
Highland County recorded three fatal traffic crashes in 2024, down from six in 2023 and five in 2022, according to Ohio State Highway Patrol data cited by the Times Gazette. Hoodline has previously covered fatal incidents in the county, including a triple fatality that raised questions last year. Sunday's crash on SR-138 remains under active investigation as troopers continue working to determine exactly what led Vance's car into the path of oncoming traffic.
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