A 17-year-old girl died and three other people were seriously injured Saturday night when a multi-vehicle crash tore through the intersection of U.S. 30 and Ohio 511 in Vermillion Township, an intersection with a documented history of wrecks. The crash began when a Hyundai failed to stop at a stop sign, setting off a chain of collisions that sent two vehicles careening across the median into oncoming traffic.
According to Ashland Source, Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers from the Ashland Post were dispatched around 7:13 p.m. Saturday after the crash was reported. Investigators determined that a 17-year-old girl was driving a 2010 Hyundai Elantra south on Ohio 511 when she failed to stop at the stop sign and entered the intersection directly into the path of a westbound 2013 Jeep Wrangler driven by 25-year-old Maximus Davis of Jeromesville, as WKYC reported.
Chain Reaction Sends Cars Into Oncoming Lanes
The impact from that initial collision sent both the Hyundai and the Jeep across the median into the eastbound lanes of U.S. 30, where they became disabled, per the same account. An eastbound 2006 Acura TL, driven by 19-year-old James Cavera of Bowling Green, then struck the Jeep in the eastbound lanes before running off the roadway, compounding an already chaotic scene.
The Hyundai's teenage driver was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Cleveland 19. A 17-year-old male passenger riding in the Hyundai suffered serious injuries and was flown by Metro Life Flight to Akron City Hospital, the station's report noted.
Three Hospitalized, Two Flown to Trauma Centers
Davis, the Jeep's driver, was first taken to OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital before being flown to Grant Medical Center in Columbus with serious injuries, per the same reporting. Cavera, who was driving the Acura, was taken by Jeromesville Fire and EMS to OhioHealth Mansfield with serious injuries as well. The Jeep and Acura drivers were also seriously injured.
Investigators said every person involved in the crash was wearing a seat belt, and troopers determined that alcohol and drugs were not considered factors. The crash remained under investigation as of Sunday morning, with no additional details released about what led the teen driver to miss the stop sign.
A Dangerous Crossing Awaiting a $74 Million Fix
Saturday's crash is the latest in a string of wrecks at the U.S. 30 and Ohio 511 intersection, which saw 13 crashes from 2019 through 2022 and another 18 from 2023 through 2025, according to a separate Ashland Source report. A fatal three-vehicle crash at the same intersection on Feb. 13 of this year killed two Wooster men and sent two others to the hospital, that reporting shows.
The Ohio Department of Transportation has planned safety upgrades for the crossing, including the installation of restricted conflict U-turns, as part of a larger rehabilitation project expected to repave 10 miles of road and include drainage and bridge work. That project is estimated to cost $74 million and take two and a half years to complete, with the U-turn installation targeted for late 2028.
Similar redesigns elsewhere along U.S. 30 have shown dramatic results. At the Ohio 603 intersection, angle crashes dropped 92 percent and injury crashes fell 75 percent after a restricted conflict U-turn was installed, compared with crash levels from 2018 to 2020. At Ohio 89, crashes fell from 17 in the three years before a similar redesign to six in the two and a half years afterward, according to the Ashland Source analysis.
