Graphic: Terry Richards | CNHI

EDITOR’S NOTE: The story is the second of two parts. The first part was published earlier in the week and focused on the traffic study in the city.

VALDOSTA — While looking over statistics on crash sites in Lowndes County, Sheriff Ashley Paulk said he wasn’t surprised the top wreck location was the intersection of Bemiss Road and North Oak Street Extension.

In fact, of the top 20 spots on a list of Lowndes County intersections where accidents take place, six involve Bemiss Road, according to a recently released study by the Southern Georgia Regional Commission.

“It used to be a four-lane road with a center turn lane,” Paulk said. 

Bemiss Road now has center dividers with driving turnarounds.

“I opposed that when (Bemiss Road) was being rebuilt,” he said. “It was a lot safer with a turn lane down the middle where people could pull in parallel with traffic rather than at a 45-degree angle,” making it more difficult to see other vehicles, Paulk said.

Speeding is another major problem on Bemiss Road, which has a posted limit of 45 miles per hour, he said. 

“Bemiss is like the Daytona 500 at 5:30 p.m. on a weekday.”

Another problem site tied for 13th place on the list, where Cat Creek Road reaches Ga. 122 between Moody Air Force Base and Hahira, is a route well-known to the sheriff, since he drives along Cat Creek Road regularly.

“(At that intersection), people coming along a sharp curve doing the speed limit are on top of you before you know it,” he said.

Paulk served as sheriff from 1993-2009, then was re-elected to the office in 2016. Since returning to office, he has put nine patrol units on the road, largely for traffic enforcement, he said.

Among the biggest problems he sees with traffic wrongdoers is texting and trying to beat red lights, Paulk said.

“It is illegal in Georgia to text or use a cell phone while driving, unless you’re using a hands-free mode,” he said. 

The use of phones on the road is a “large problem,” the sheriff said.

As for traffic lights, “so many people try to beat a red light, particularly where Inner Perimeter Road crosses U.S. 84,” he said.

“You can’t depend on the other person to stop,” Paulk said. “You should treat a green light like a red light: look first.”

The annual number of auto wrecks in Lowndes County as a whole (including inside the City of Valdosta) grew from 2,890 in 2014 to 3,713 in 2016, a 28 percent increase, according to the commission’s report. Likewise, the annual number of fatal accidents countywide has grown from nine in 2014 to 18 in 2016.

Of the fatal wrecks, only one each was linked to alcohol in 2016 and 2015, compared to two in 2014, the SGRC’s study shows. The last traffic fatality in Lowndes County directly linked to speeding was in 2012, according to the study.

Crashes involving motorcycles in Lowndes County have held fairly steady in recent years, ranging from 45 in 2014 to 48 in 2016, with two motorcycle fatalities reported in 2016, the report shows.

There are more fatal crashes involving people in the 41-50 age group — 21 deaths — than in other age ranges in the last five years, with only three fatal crashes involving drivers 20 or younger, according to the report.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.