Stiles Road seeing lots of crashes this winter

A vehicle involved in a crash on North Stiles Road earlier this week.

Stiles Road, between U.S. 10 and Sugar Grove Road in Amber and Victory townships, has caused some havoc on motorists this winter. There have been numerous traffic incidents, mostly involving only one vehicle, in that stretch, particularly at the intersections with Fisher Road and also with Johnson Road.

The pattern of vehicle rollovers or slide offs in those areas have been fairly steady throughout the winter and have caused law enforcement and road officials to take action.

“There was a day when we had seven accidents or slide offs in the area of Stiles and Fisher roads,” Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole said. “I actually drove out there and took a look at that area and I noticed both the northbound and southbound edges had considerable drop-offs.” Cole said he contacted Wayne Schoonover, director/manager of the Mason County Road Commission.

Schoonover said he also went to that area and noticed the same thing. Maintenance crews then filled the sides of the road with some packing material. He said crews will be keeping an eye on that area through the winter.

“It’s very rare that you get that many accidents in a particular stretch of road without there being some sort of a road issue,” Cole said.

Both Cole and Schoonover said the road conditions through there are narrow. In addition, Stiles Road is a main thoroughfare for West Shore Community College students. “You have a lot of young drivers coming up that road,” Cole said. “I have a 20-year-old daughter who drives that road every day going to college. Quite frankly it kind of scares me.”

While not extreme as the Fisher Road intersection, there have also been numerous incidents at Johnson Road as well. The most recent was Wednesday morning.