‘There’s been 3 deaths on this road as far as car accidents’: Fitzgerald residents express speeding concerns

police investigate fatal motorcycle accident
Video from WALB
Published: Jul. 5, 2022 at 7:52 PM EDT

FITZGERALD, Ga. (WALB) - The Fitzgerald Police Department is investigating a fatal accident involving a motorcyclist. It happened around 8 Monday night.

Police Chief William Smallwood says the motorcyclist tried to pass another car and collided. The car was heading north on the 800 block of Monitor. As the car attempted to turn left, the skid marks from the motorcycle were over in the next lane.

The motorcycle driver was flown to the hospital but later died. Chief Smallwood says there have been some issues in the area with motorcycles and four-wheelers speeding.

“We do not chase them because when we noticed them flea or I noticed them several times they have no regard for anything. They just run through stop signs and red lights and just pay no attention to it and so you know it’s extremely dangerous,” he says.

Rock Burrow has been a resident in this community since 2013. He says he’s been to several city council meetings where he expressed his concerns about speeding. He feels no one listens. Burrow says there’s been a number of fatal accidents at that intersection.

“There’s been three deaths on this road as far as car accidents. That’s dealing with motorcycles, that’s dealing with scooters, and all of that. And the city of Fitzgerald won’t do anything about it. I’ve been here since 2013. This is the third accident that happened on this road,” he added.

Ronnie Stanley also lives on this street. He desperately wants speed bumps and speed limit signs added to help reduce the number of fatal tragedies at this intersection.

“They need speed bumps to control the traffic to keep them from going really fast so maybe this won’t happen again,” Stanley says.

Burrow told me he is ordering speed signs himself to put around the neighborhood to help combat the excessive speeding down this road.

We reached out to Fitzgerald’s City Hall office about this concern. We were told it’s required that residents in the area sign a proclamation to get speed bumps in the area.

Copyright 2022 WALB. All rights reserved.