MCRAE-HELENA, Ga. — No, magic isn't real. However, folks in Wheeler County say that cars driving on State Highway 280 disappear at the bottom of the hill and you can't see them --poof--- until they appear at the intersection at Little Rock Road.
Folks say it makes crossing the highway dangerous and it's driving them crazy!
Shari Young has lived in the area for 7 years. She says folks around here live in fear of this intersection because you can't see the cars coming up over the hill.
"You take a chance every time you turn out on this road! Hi, my name is Shari Young and I live on Little Rock Road and Highway 280 is driving me crazy!," she said.
Young says she drives through this intersection everyday. She says guessing when traffic is coming is a gamble.
"You can't hear when it's coming, you can't see when it's coming. You're right on top of it before you see anything,” she explains.
She says she's seen 3 car crashes in 7 years, and the most recent happened a couple of weeks ago to a family friend.
"She couldn't see him coming, she pulled out in front of him and tore her car up. It took the whole front end off of the car. Luckily, it was far enough back that she wasn’t hurt,” Young explains. "If it’d been just a few more inches, it would’ve hurt her real bad.”
Bill Owens is Young's neighbor.
"You don't know how many times I've pulled out and a car just flies over that hill,” Owens exclaims.
He says traffic has increased in the past decade, and so has the speeding. He says folks not obeying the speed limit makes crossing the intersection all the more dangerous.
Owens says it takes 5 seconds to cross it, but if someone is speeding, it only takes 3 to 4 seconds to come over the hill towards the intersection.
"I've never seen anybody come over that hill at 55 [miles]. It's always 65 or 70,” he says.
Owens says he's surprised more people haven't been hurt here and says there should be more safety precautions.
"Somebody is going to get killed out here and I'm gonna probably know ‘em. It could be me, it could be Shari," he said.
Jill Nagel with the Georgia Department of Transportation says they have not gotten any complaints about the area, but…
"I've already spoken with our traffic operations team. They are going to go out and evaluate this location,” she says.
Nagel says traffic numbers will determine if the area needs a traffic light, or another safety measure.
"We will do what we can to improve the safety, but we also ask that motorists do their part and follow safety laws,” she says.
Nagel says she can't say when a team will go out to assess the intersection. She also encourages other folks with road safety concerns to reach them at their district office at 912-427-5700.
If there's a problem on your daily commute, that's driving you crazy, we want to hear about it. Send an email to news@13wmaz.com with the headline "Driving Me Crazy."