Traffic Accidents in Oconee Occur Most Often Along Epps Bridge Parkway, Study Finds
The Oconee County Sheriff's Office recently compiled data collected during the last three years.
Photos
Pdfs
Four of the top five areas that were the most accident-ridden in Oconee County during the last three years are located along Epps Bridge Parkway and the Ga. 316 corridor, according to data compiled by the Sheriff's Office.
"We had a request for some wreck information, and Cpt. Williams took it further to see what the data would show," Chief Deputy Lee Weems said. "I think it helps, at times, to look at long periods of data to see if any trends are developing. This helps with resource planning and allocation and to get a measure on whether or not strategies are working or if strategies need to be developed."
The study found there were 29 areas where more than 20 accidents occurred. The top five were:
- 345 -- Epps Bridge Parkway at Walmart and Dowdy Road including the parking lots of Walmart, Ryan's, Bank of America and Jordon Drive
- 282 -- Epps Bridge Parkway and SR 10 Loop near Waffle House including the parking lots of the Waffle House, McDonald's and the Verizon Store
- 270 -- Epps Bridge Parkway and Jennings Mill Parkway around Kroger, The Home Depot, and Lowe's including the parking lots of Home Depot, Kroger, Lowes and Zaxby’s
- 238 -- Ga. Highway 316, the Oconee Connector, and Jennings Mill Road
- 224 -- Hog Mountain Road and Mars Hill Road by Butlers Crossing including the parking lots of Publix, Bell's, McDonalds, Golden Pantry and all other business in the immediate area
The complete list is attached as a pdf.
The study also ranked 29 areas where five or more accidents with at least one injury (including fatalities) occurred during the same three-year span.
Thirty took place around Epps Bridge Parkway and the SR 10 Loop near Waffle House including the parking lots of nearby businesses; another 30 where Ga. Highway 316 meets the Oconee Connector; and 24 occurred near Epps Bridge Parkway and Jennings Mill Parkway close to Kroger, Home Depot and Lowes and including parking lots of those and other businesses.
Authorities hope educating the public about the areas most prone to accidents will help.
"As far as what the Sheriff’s Office can do, our tools are education and enforcement," Weems said. "We prefer the former."
The Sheriff' Office can also make requests to the Georgia Department of Transportation or the county Public Works department, but each follow certain criteria for road design and traffic signals, he said.
In This article
-
Oconee County Sheriff's Office
1140 Experiment Station Rd, Watkinsville, GA -
Wal-Mart
1911 Epps Bridge Pkwy, Athens, GA -
Ryan's
1021 Dowdy Rd, Athens, GA -
Bank of America
1890 Epps Bridge Pkwy, Athens, GA -
Waffle House
1720 Epps Bridge Pkwy, Athens, GA -
McDonald's
1741 Epps Bridge Pkwy, Athens, GA
-
Verizon Wireless
1761 Epps Bridge Pkwy, Athens, GA -
Kroger
1720 Epps Bridge Pkwy, Athens, GA -
The Home Depot
1740 Epps Bridge Pkwy, Athens, GA -
Lowe's Home Improvement
1851 Epps Bridge Pkwy, Athens, GA -
Zaxby's
1800 Epps Bridge Pkwy, Athens, GA -
Publix Super Market at Butler's Crossing
2061 Experiment Station Rd, Watkinsville, GA -
Bell's Food Stores
2061 Hog Mountain Rd, Watkinsville, GA
James
7:17 pm on Tuesday, January 17, 2012
This is a strange news article. The state keeps all these statistics, and always has. And, the state keeps true stats and doesn't pad the numbers by including every time one shopper in a nearby walmart bumps another one while backing from a parking space.
Jean
2:24 pm on Thursday, January 19, 2012
There always seems to be a Watkinsville Police Car at the old cemetery, which isn't even on the list. I wonder why?