MACON, Ga. — Right now, Macon's Tucker and Forsyth Road railroad crossing is temporarily closed. The county shut down access through the railroad into Rivoli Drive, while they review traffic patterns for a safety study.
It comes after a fatal car wreck between an SUV and a train at that intersection last month. On Nov. 15, a 76-year-old woman was driving down Tucker Road when her car got stuck on the train tracks. Before she could escape her car, a train came across and struck her. She died a few days later from her injuries.
Rebekah Henderson saw the accident happen - she says was right behind the victim, Cheryl Rawls that day.
"She opened the door and she tried to get out," Henderson said. "But the train just kept coming, and she was buckled in."
She said it looked like Rawls' seatbelt was stuck, and she couldn't get out fast enough. She believes Rawls was confused with how the intersection is set up, and didn't realize how quickly the train was coming.
"The train stopped a mile and a half past hitting her. When the arm went down, the lights were flashing but normally the bell starts ringing to let you know that the train's on it's way. I didn't hear that," Rawls said.
She said it's a big problem that the bells didn't go off that day - but also said the striped white line that tells cars where to stop is another problem too. She said if a car stops on the white line, a part of the car stands too close to the train tracks, making it a safety hazard.
Alex Morrison, Director of Macon-Bibb County's Planning and Public Spaces said right now, they're not sure how long the road will be closed. He said they're going to keep it closed for as long as they need, until they get enough data to access how to make the area safer.
"I hope they just completely block it off completely," Henderson said. "I don't want it to be a temporary thing to find out what's safer and what's easier for traffic. I don't care if it takes you 10 extra minutes to get home. It's the fact that you get home that's important."
Morrison said they'll get more accurate data from their study after the schools in the area are back in session, because so many of them are closed right now for Christmas break.
You can still use the crosswalks in the area, because they don't go through Rivoli Drive. The county also removed the north and south bound stop signs to let cars flow freely down Rivoli Drive.