Jones County officials say a two vehicle wreck with injuries Friday morning at the intersection of Upper Ovett Road and Highway 15 South in Ovett is a sign of a growing problem.
Gordon Pitts, chief of the Ovett Volunteer Fire Department, said the wreck, which sent at least one to the hospital with undisclosed injuries, is the second this week “in the exact same location.”
A collision between an Mississippi Department of Transportation truck and an 18-wheeler sent the driver of the MDOT vehicle to the hospital Tuesday.
“We’ve worked numerous wrecks at Upper Ovett Road and Upper Moselle Road where they come out on Highway 15,” Pitts said. “It’s just the amount of traffic, I guess. Those are the two main entrances into and exiting Ovett.”
Lance Chancellor, Jones County public information officer, said the wreck Friday was the second of the day, following an early morning incident on Highway 15 North near Mi Casita. That particular scene involved four vehicles and snarled traffic entering and exiting Laurel during the morning commute.
“It’s one of those things,” he said. “It’s a beautiful sunny day with perfect road conditions, yet we had two major multi-vehicle accidents.”
Chancellor encouraged drivers to pay closer attention to their surroundings as the spring months will bring more traffic onto the road.
“Post-Katrina, we’ve experienced a great increase in the number of vehicle accidents, injuries and extrications,” he said. “It’s a non-stop run every week with the volunteer departments.”
Late Thursday evening, two incidents were reported involving animals — a car versus a horse in the Hebron area and a car versus a cow in the Shady Grove community.
“It was a tough week again,” Chancellor said. “It’s a continuation of what we would call not just increased responses to accidents, but the number of accidents that involve injuries. It’s really crazy.”
Chancellor said Upper Ovett Road and Lower Ovett Road are both dangerous intersections that often have volunteers scrambling.
“Both of those are T-intersections where folks are trying to pull out into fast moving traffic,” he said. “Either the oncoming traffic approaches really quickly and they don’t see what’s happening, or they just don’t get up to highway speed fast enough. It’s a combination of slow traffic entering the state highway with 55 mile per hour traffic.”
But, Upper Ovett Road and Lower Ovett Road aren’t the only intersections Chancellor said drivers should be cautious when approaching.
“Two of the most dangerous intersections are Magnolia Road at Highway 84 and Highway 84 and 184,” he said. “Magnolia Road was voted the most dangerous intersection in Jones County by emergency responders.”
Other dangerous intersections include Monroe Road near I-59 and Sharon Road, Chancellor said.
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Photo/David Owens
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