A driver in Greene County escaped injury after she crashed into a tree blown over by high winds on Stutsman Road Thursday morning.
Deputies from the Greene County Sheriff’s Office were first in the area around 1:30 a.m. after a downed tree was found across the road, and blocked Stutsman Road near Alpha Bellbrook Road.
Trooper Paul Coates from the Xenia Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol said the driver was traveling from the opposite side of Stutsman Road where the deputy was, didn’t see the downed tree, and crashed into it.
The driver was not injured, but her vehicle sustained significant damage.
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Coates said this was the fourth call overnight Thursday about downed trees across a Greene County roadway, and the second crash caused by a downed tree.
“During the high winds we do have [downed] trees and if we don’t have anybody call [about] them, the next call we get is usually someone whose ran into it,” Coates said. “It’s dark outside, the trees are dark brown in color right now with no leaves, it’s usually a little too late by the time they hit them.”
Troopers said drivers who come across downed trees, poles, or wires can do a lot to prevent crashes by reporting the hazard immediately and stay until law enforcement responds, especially at night.
“Even if they’re able to stay there just for a few moments, just to get their flashers on, until we can get a deputy or trooper, somebody to get their overhead lights on, and get somebody out here to cut [the tree] off,” Coates said.
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