A 38-year-old Canton woman died Thursday night after her SUV veered off U.S. Route 62 and struck a ditch, a culvert, and an overhead traffic-sign post, state troopers say. Sara Abel was pronounced dead at the scene, and investigators believe alcohol and/or drugs were a factor in the crash.
According to Cleveland 19 News, Abel was driving westbound on U.S. Route 62 around 7:50 p.m. Thursday when her vehicle left the left side of the road and entered the median before hitting the ditch, culvert and sign post. No other vehicles were involved, and the crash investigation remains ongoing. Separate reporting from WKYC places the crash near milepost 24, identifying Abel's vehicle as a 2018 Chevrolet Acadia SUV, and reports that she was initially transported by the Canton City Fire Department to Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital with life-threatening injuries before she was later pronounced dead — a detail that differs from Cleveland 19's account that she died at the scene.
Multi-Agency Response on Route 62
Emergency crews assisting the Ohio State Highway Patrol's Canton Post at the scene included the Stark County Sheriff's Office, the Canton City Fire Department, and Canton Towing, per the same WKYC report. The crash adds to a string of recent fatal incidents in the area; Hoodline reported on a 91-year-old Ashland man found dead in a separate single-vehicle crash off U.S. 30 in Canton just a day earlier, and a major crash involving a fire vehicle occurred on I-77 in Canton the previous day.
A Corridor With a Troubled History
This is not the first fatal wreck along this stretch of highway. Hoodline previously covered a crash in which an Alliance woman, 30, was killed when her car flipped at U.S. 62 and Harmont Avenue NE back in July. State data help explain why: U.S. Route 62 was the single most crash-prone highway corridor in Stark County between 2023 and 2025, recording 1,471 total collisions for an average of 490 crashes per year, according to data from Ohio.gov. The Stark County Area Transportation Study outlines a safety-ranking methodology.
Part of a Wider Pattern of Rising Fatalities
Driving off the roadway, the type of crash troopers describe in Abel's case, accounted for 26% of all fatal crashes in Ohio over a five-year tracking period through 2025, according to the same Ohio.gov data sheet. Stark County has also been bucking the state's broader trend: fatal traffic crashes in the county rose from 19 in 2023 to 28 in 2024 and 31 in 2025, even as Ohio's overall traffic deaths declined, Hoodline previously reported.
Impairment Enforcement and Legal Stakes
The state patrol's statement that alcohol and/or drugs are believed to be a factor in Abel's crash remains a preliminary assessment, not a confirmed finding. Under Ohio Revised Code Section 4511.19, a conviction for operating a vehicle while impaired by alcohol or drugs carries mandatory penalties, including a minimum three-day jail term or driver intervention program, a license suspension of one to three years, and fines starting at $375, according to Ohio Laws. The investigation into Thursday's crash remains underway.
