John M. Long Avenue has been the spot of two car crashes within the last two weeks at the intersection between the band practice field and Clements Hall, according to Troy University Police Department reports.
While TUPD reports don’t show any major injuries to students, all the wrecks resulted in significant damage to the involved vehicles.
Timothy Sandheinrich, a sophomore geomatics science major from Odenville, Alabama, and Resident Assistant of Clements Hall was witness to both.
“The first accident I witnessed was really bad. A car was attempting to turn into the overflow parking lot while waiting for oncoming traffic to pass,” Sandheinrich said. “A driver that was distracted rear-ended them while driving about 40 mph while the car slid into other cars that were parked on the road.
“I also witnessed a car trying to turn out of Clements Hall, and they could not see the oncoming traffic and got T-boned.”
Sandheinrich also was on duty Sunday night when a fender bender occurred on the street parking outside Clements Hall.
“The university could make the intersection a 4-way stop or lower the speed limit at the intersection while putting rumble strips on the road to catch the attention of drivers,” Sandheinrich said.
“The inability to see around the cars parked on the street is a huge problem coming out of the Clements parking lot,” said Ellen Lanford, a freshman interdisciplinary studies major from Mobile, Alabama. “The mirror that’s there doesn’t really help unless you have perfect vision.
“It would also be great if they would put up a wrong way sign at the end of the Clements parking lot because someone almost hit me trying to turn in on that side the other day.”
The SGA special projects committee is currently working on a bill to draft and suggest changes to the intersection.
