Legion Road and South Main is dangerous speakers say
Parents of high school students are asking the City of Ellijay for solutions at a main intersection heading into Gilmer High School.
Their request came during the public comment period of the city council’s regular meeting Monday, Aug. 17.
Andrea Carver, parent of a high school student, said she has been talking to Ellijay Police Chief Edward Lacey and Thomas Griffith, who is a city councilmember and director of maintenance and facilities at Gilmer County Schools, since February about the area where South Main and Legion Road meet. Students and parents heading into the high school use this intersection to get to there.
Despite requests for someone to direct traffic at the intersection, she said school resource officers are stationed farther into the campus area, directing traffic.
“Meanwhile, the intersection continues to operate on an inconsistent and unsafe ‘flashing of the headlights’ system and make-shift three-way stop,” Carver said. “Some drivers yield, some do not, which puts every driver, but especially our new drivers, at real risk.”
Mayor Al Hoyle said an accident Friday prompted the parents to attend the meeting. Lacey summarized the accident in which a 16-year-old driver with a 15-year-old passenger turned in front of another vehicle with a woman and two children and was struck. No one was seriously injured.
Before the public comment period, Lacey told the council he had looked at crashes at the intersection over the last eight years. He said there were 43 over the time period, with 24 being in the last five years. Of those accidents, none involved serious injuries.
Of the 24, Lacey said 18 occurred during the months school was in session, 15 involved students who were driving and 13 involved students under the age of 18.
Carver said she would like a temporary solution and then a permanent solution at the intersection.
In the short-term, she would like someone directing traffic at the intersection in the mornings and afternoons when the majority of students are on the road.
As a long-term solution, she mentioned the possibilities of installing a flashing light which functions as a three-way stop during those hours, adding a permanent three-way stop or installing a traffic light with a designated turn lane.
“We all know this intersection is dangerous,” Carver said. “The data proves it, the wrecks prove it, and every parent and student who drives through there in the mornings and afternoons feels it in their gut. I understand that solutions, whether it’s a temporary traffic signal, a turn lane, or another design, can be expensive. But, there is no price on a life. Our children’s safety has to come first.”
Two more parents echoed Carver’s remarks. The council did not take any action.
Other business
In other business, the council:
﹣ delayed action on an ordinance which would allow wrecker services to boot cars in private parking lots in addition to being able to tow them at the parking lot owner’s request.
﹣ hired Kenneth Dustin Harper as fire chief for the city.