COLUMBUS, Ohio (WOWO) — The National Transportation Safety Board is urging the Ohio Turnpike to eliminate its low-speed manual toll lanes after determining that a hybrid toll plaza design contributed to a fatal 2024 crash near Toledo. The NTSB said fully electronic tolling could have prevented the August 15, 2024, crash at the Swanton Township toll plaza on Interstate 80-90 in northwestern Ohio. Investigators determined an SUV traveling through a high-speed electronic toll lane suddenly slowed and attempted to move into a low-speed lane for a manual toll booth. The SUV moved into the path of a truck-trailer, which struck it from behind and rolled over. Two passengers in the SUV were killed. Neither was wearing a seatbelt, according to the NTSB. The SUV’s driver and another passenger were seriously injured, as was the truck driver. Sulfonic acid being transported by the truck spilled onto the roadway but did not injure anyone. Following its investigation, the NTSB recommended that the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission permanently close the low-speed toll lanes and transition to fully electronic tolling. “This crash shows the deadly safety consequences of mixing high-speed electronic tolling with low-speed manual tolling lanes,” NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said. The NTSB said investigators reviewed three weeks of video from the toll plaza and identified more than 1,000 last-minute lane changes — an average of about 52 each day. Investigators said those lane changes were similar to the maneuver involved in the fatal crash. The agency also found that the toll plaza’s hybrid design created a high risk of severe crashes because drivers using high-speed electronic toll lanes were operating alongside vehicles slowing down to reach manual toll booths. The NTSB pointed to Illinois and Pennsylvania as examples of states that have moved to fully electronic tolling, with Illinois making the switch in 2020 and Pennsylvania doing so in 2025. The agency also recommended that the Federal Highway Administration develop guidance addressing the safety benefits of fully electronic tolling. In addition to the tolling changes, the NTSB recommended that the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission consider constructing emergency access points. Investigators found that emergency responders sometimes struggled to reach the toll roads quickly, creating another potential safety concern. The NTSB’s recommendations come as toll roads continue moving away from traditional toll booths and toward systems that allow drivers to maintain highway speeds while tolls are collected electronically. For the Ohio Turnpike, the agency’s findings specifically focus on the dangers created when high-speed electronic lanes operate next to low-speed manual toll lanes, giving drivers an incentive to make sudden lane changes in busy traffic. The post NTSB urges Ohio Turnpike to eliminate manual toll lanes after fatal crash appeared first on WOWO News/Talk 92.3 FM and 1190 AM. ...read more read less