Description

As a daily commuter of 8+ years navigating from Windward W. to the GA 400 South on-ramp, I have observed the police issuing citations on at least 4 occasions for vehicle rear-end collisions at the yield sign there. I would not be surprised if there was one accident per day there. I believe that limited visibility of oncoming traffic when approaching the yield sign at the on-ramp is a major contributor to these accidents. There are three issues with the intersection design that contribute to these accidents: 1) The pavement lowers about 15 feet before the yield sign, which briefly reduces visibility to oncoming traffic; 2) A section of bushes in the median further obstructs the view of oncoming traffic as you approach the yield sign, which is greater for those driving sports cars which are lower to the ground; 3) The road angle of the approaching traffic requires the driver approaching the yield sign to turn his/her head to the left more that 90 degrees, which causes the lead car to be outside of a common person's optical field of view. The most cost effective way to begin reduction of accidents at this intersection is to remove the bushes inside of the median. These accidents cost time and money for all involved: police making reports, drivers delayed to work, higher auto insurance premiums for the drivers involved, car rental costs, and to a lessor degree, higher insurance rates for all residents of Metro Atlanta. I encourage you to request a summary police report of the total number of collision accidents at this on-ramp over the last 10 years.