By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

What else can be done to prevent teens from dying in traffic crashes?

Ohio Rep. Gary Cates, R-West Chester Township, and area police want to hear your ideas at town hall meetings beginning next week.

"It's time for us to have a meaningful public discourse on how to put an end to these teen driving fatalities," Cates said Thursday. "We want to hear from parents, the teen drivers, anyone who has something to say about this."

Since mid-February, at least 11 people have been killed in traffic crashes involving Greater Cincinnati teen drivers. The most recent crash killed Chase Knecht, a passenger in a high-speed Preble County crash last week.

Because Knecht was a Middletown High School student, "I would expect there would be a fair amount of momentum from that student body for our first meeting in Middletown," Cates said.

Butler County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Richard K. Jones and Lt. Michael Black, commander of the Ohio State Highway Patrol's Hamilton post, intend to join Cates for at least two forums:

• 7 p.m. Monday at the Middletown High School cafeteria.

• 7 p.m. May 3 at Fairfield City Hall.

Cates also plans to set sessions in three other communities: West Chester Township, Oxford and Hamilton.

Besides hearing ideas for legislation for Cates or other lawmakers to consider, organizers also want to hear what additional steps parents, teens, police, courts, schools and others might be able to take.

"We want to cover the whole gamut," Black said. "This is their opportunity to tell us what they think should happen."

Cates said he, like many parents, is searching for answers, trying to figure out why Greater Cincinnati - and especially Butler County - has seen so many teens killed in fatal wrecks recently. Six of the 11 recent victims were from Butler County, including three from Middletown.

"I think we are all sickened and heartbroken over the rash of teen fatalities," Cates said. "As a parent, I'm very frustrated and very tired of picking up the newspaper and reading about yet another teen fatality. ... Hopefully all this energy and emotion will turn into something positive."

Details emerge in probe of fatal wreck

Chase Knecht, 17, was killed while riding in a car that exceeded the speed limit by at least 30 mph, went airborne and was out of control for some 550 feet, an investigator said Thursday.

What's more, authorities are investigating allegations that the driver may have been "hill-hopping" on a wavy section of Oxford-Germantown Road known as Bacon Hill, said Preble County Sheriff's Deputy Kevin Caplinger.

A technical crash investigator for the Preble County Sheriff's Office, Caplinger said his estimate of 80 mph in a 50-mph zone was conservative. It could be several weeks before he finishes gathering data on the crash that killed Knecht.

Knecht, a Middletown High School junior, was dead when authorities arrived at the crash scene in Preble County, just north of the Butler County line, around 1:45 a.m. April 14.

Driver Randell L. Johnson Jr., 18, and back-seat passenger Zack A. Lansdale, 17, were treated at McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital in Oxford and released.

All were Middletown High students. Knecht's death came two months after another 17-year-old Middletown student, senior Kristen Norris, was killed in a high-speed crash. She, too, was a passenger.

Knecht was not wearing a seat belt, Caplinger said, but it would not have saved his life because of the type of injury he suffered.

Johnson, whose Ohio driving record shows he was convicted of a June 6 speeding offense, is expected to face charges in connection with the fatal crash, authorities said.

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com