MACON, Ga. — Car wrecks can be unpredictable.
However, neighbors at the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Monroe Street in Macon say they expect at least one crash there a month, like clockwork.
They say it’s due to cars speeding.
“Sounds like we're in South Atlanta instead of Macon. I’m Johnathan Godfrey and the intersection of Monroe and Georgia Avenue is driving me crazy,” he said.
Mail Sort Macon has been on Georgia Avenue for a long time.
“Been here since April of 1990,” said Godfrey, who owns the place.
Godfrey says a lot has changed around the area since then. That includes the businesses and the traffic it brings.
“Traffic has intensified with more cars. I don’t know if it's a 30-mile hour zone, but they're hitting close to 60 miles an hour,” Godfrey explained.
Speed and a busy intersection– the perfect recipe for a wreck.
“Here inside our brick building, machines running and music running, we can hear metal on metal,” he said.
Godfrey says crashes happen at least once a month. The latest wreck was three weeks ago.
“I walked down there when I heard it and there was a mom and little child. It would scare me at 53 years old, let alone a three-year-old.”
Godfrey says the crashes range from T-bones, cars flipping, to fatalities.
“Like, I said, lots of folks leave in the ambulance,” he said.
Godfrey says the traffic has grown worse over the last five years. He says he and several other business people say something must be done
“A caution light or a stoplight would probably help. I can’t imagine it hurting,” Godfrey said. “I don’t know how long we can wait before there's another accident or someone dies."
We reached out to the Georgia Department of Transportation, which runs the intersection. They say they're aware of safety concerns and are working with Macon traffic engineers to collect traffic counts to see if the area warrants a traffic signal.
They didn't say when they'll decide.
GDOT’s Gina Snider says they look at the traffic volume before planning a traffic signal and they also look at the crash history.