A multi-vehicle crash at the intersection of Morse Road and Sundance Drive in northeast Columbus sent multiple children to the hospital Friday morning, shutting down one of the North Side's busiest corridors during the early commute. The wreck happened around 7:15 a.m., and at least one child was taken to the hospital in critical condition, while the conditions of the other children involved were not immediately known.
Reports on the number of people hurt have varied. NBC4 WCMH-TV initially reported that five people were hospitalized, while a separate written account from the station said seven total victims, including five children, were hospitalized in critical condition. ABC6 OnYourSide reported that at least five children were taken to the hospital following the crash. The discrepancy between the figures has not been resolved.
Road Closed as Investigation Continues
Police said the crash possibly involved three vehicles, according to the station's reporting, though that detail has not been confirmed. Morse Road was closed in both directions between Sunbury Road and Westerville Road as crews worked the scene, snarling traffic across a stretch of the North Side during morning rush hour.
Columbus Fire described the scene bluntly, telling the station the incident was “not good.” The cause of the crash was not yet known as of Thursday morning, and ABC6's reporting likewise noted that investigators had not determined what led to the collision.
A Stretch of Road Familiar to Local Crash Reports
This is not the first serious multi-vehicle crash reported in the area in recent years. Back in December 2024, two people were hospitalized after a three-vehicle crash elsewhere in northeast Columbus on Cleveland Avenue, according to ABC6's earlier coverage, though that incident is separate from Thursday's collision on Morse Road.
The crash also arrives against the backdrop of the city's broader push to curb serious roadway injuries. Columbus launched its Vision Zero initiative in March 2020 with the goal of eliminating fatal and serious-injury crashes by 2035, according to a report from WOSU. The city recorded 48 traffic fatalities in 2025; an earlier peak was about 73 fatal crashes, per the same report, and officials have said fatal and serious-injury crashes have become more concentrated, with 52% occurring on just 7% of Columbus roadways compared with 65% on 10% of roadways when the initiative began.
Speed Cited as a Key Factor Citywide
The city's Vision Zero coordinator has said speed is the fundamental factor in whether a crash occurs at all, and in how severe it turns out to be, according to WOSU's reporting. That initiative covers city-owned and city-maintained surface streets rather than interstate highways, meaning a corridor like Morse Road falls within its scope. It remains unclear whether speed played any role in Thursday's crash, and investigators have not released a cause.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol also maintains a public crash dashboard offering five years of statistics broken down by severity, roadway, time of day, and day of week, according to the agency's own description of the tool. No incident-specific figures for the Morse Road crash were available in that data as of Thursday morning. Hoodline will update this story as more information becomes available.
