COLUMBUS – Columbus has recorded 21% more traffic fatalities in 2020 than at the same point in 2019, police said.
The total includes a Canal Winchester woman who was killed after her windshield was smashed in a collision with some highway construction markers, and a man who died four days after being struck by an SUV while crossing a West Side Street.
Brenda Aldridge-Cendejas was alone in her minivan while driving northbound on I-270 at I-70 on the East Side of Columbus at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday when she drifted out of her lane of travel and struck a highway construction sign and an orange construction barrel, Sgt. Brooke Wilson of the Accident Investigation Unit said.
The crash smashed the vehicle’s windshield, making visibility impossible, but Wilson says Aldridge-Cendejas, 52, continued for approximately another ¼ mile until she again left the roadway, striking the attenuator of a guardrail, which disabled the vehicle and left Aldridge-Cendejas critically injured.
She was transported to Mount Carmel East Hospital where she died at 6:31 p.m.
At approximately 6:31 p.m. on Oct. 30, Roger Spence was crossing Sullivant Avenue in the middle of the block between Josephine Avenue and Derrer Road. when he walked in front of a Jeep Liberty driven by Robert Smith, 55, which was westbound on Sullivant Avenue, Wilson said.
Spence, 43, was taken to Grant Medical Center where he died on Tuesday, the 67th traffic fatality of the year in the city, Wilson said.
The investigation is continuing.