The driver of an 18-wheeler registered to Leon Jones Feed & Grain, Cumming, Georgia failed to successfully negotiate a turn off East Troy Street onto North Main Street in Brundidge Tuesday night.

The truck first struck a pole that was temporarily in place to accommodate the city’s Christmas lights. The truck then struck at vehicle that was parallel parked in front of Collier’s on Main and then sideswiped another vehicle that was also parked along the street.

Brundidge Police Chief Moses Davenport said several vehicles that were traveling north to south along Main Street were stopped at the traffic light, causing the truck driver to have to make a tighter turn than usual.

“There was nothing illegal about the turn,” Davenport said. “He just cut the turn too sharp and hit the pole, knocked it down and the lights with it. From there, he went on to hit the two vehicles. I can’t say how that happened.”

This was the second time a portion of the city’s historic Christmas lights has been taken down by an 18-wheeler this holiday season.

“But, the driver that hit the pole that supported the Christmas lights on the opposite corner of Main Street and S.A. Graham Boulevard was making an illegal turn,” Davenport said. “It is illegal for a truck to turn right off Main Street onto S.A. Graham Boulevard. The driver Tuesday night was making a legal turn.”

In another recent incident, a truck driver who was attempting to make a right turn off S.A. Graham Blvd. onto South Main Street hit a parked car. A few days earlier, a trucker attempting to make the same turn had hit the awning and support pole at Brundidge Florist, which is on the corner. That was at least the sixth time the awning and pole have been damaged when drivers of 18-wheelers are attempting to make the sharp turn at that corner.

Davenport said it is not easy for drivers of 18-wheelers to make the sharp turns necessary onto and off of Main Street at the crossroads in downtown Brundidge.

“Those are sharp turns and they are especially to hard to make when other vehicles are stopped at the light and in their turn path,” he said. ‘Sometimes the drivers of the stopped vehicles have to back up to give the big trucks room to turn.”
Davenport said 18-wheelers are a part of the Brundidge downtown traffic.

“We’ve got to find a way to handle the truck traffic so that we can eliminate some of the problems we are having now,” Davenport said. “The City Council is considering putting signs up that will direct some of these big trucks onto Highway 231 when it’s not absolutely necessary that they come through the downtown area.”
Brundidge Mayor Isabell Boyd said the council is looking closely at the truck traffic situation.

“We are looking at signage that would direct these truck drivers along the best route for them and to the benefit of the city,” Boyd said. “We want to find a solution that will work for the truckers and for the residents of the city. There is a solution or maybe solutions to the concerns that we have. We’ve got to decide what is best and then do it.”