Wrong-way driver, 79, killed in head-on crash: OSHP

TUSCARAWAS TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WJW) -- State troopers said a 79-year-old driver was killed in a head-on crash Tuesday while going the wrong way on a local highway. Canton troopers are now investigating the three-car crash, which happened just before 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 14, on U.S. Route 30 West in Tuscarawas Township, Stark County, according to a news release. A 27-year-old Canton woman in an SUV was driving west on U.S. Route 30 in the left lane while a sedan operated by a 79-year-old Wooster man in a sedan was driving east in the westbound lanes, according to the release. The sedan struck the SUV head-on, causing the SUV to move off the left side of the roadway into the median, according to the release. The sedan kept moving and also struck a van being driven by a 59-year-old Hartville man, which was also headed west. The driver of the sedan, identified as 79-year-old Webster Blankenship, of Wooster, suffered life-threatening injuries and was transported to a hospital where he later died, according to the release. The 27-year-old driver of the SUV suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was also transported to a hospital. The 59-year-old driver of the van was uninjured. Both the SUV and the sedan were disabled, but the van sustained only minor front-end damage, according to the release. The crash remains under investigation.