DUNCAN Okla_ A dangerous
intersection just east of the Lawton-Duncan "Y", at Plainsman and Alexander Road has
claimed the lives of two people in a little over two months. Now, the father of
one of the victims is speaking out in hopes that something can be done to make the
intersection safer for drivers making that abrupt, sharp turn.
Daron Duncan said
the area of concern is out in the county, but not a minute goes by that a car
isn't flying around that curve. The spot we're talking about is about 2 miles
of east of Hwy 7 and 81, and just north of Camelback Road.
Daron said he's
not the only one in the area concerned about that particular curve in the road.
"Everybody
cuts through here going from Marlow to Duncan,
and if it's foggy or dark, there's no way to know that there's a stop right
here. It's really a 90 degree turn. I'm friends with a lot of people at the
police and sheriff's department and they say they're out here all the
time."
Daron Duncan's
son's life ended here in this ditch back in October. Just 56 days later, another life was taken by
the curve.
"Not long
ago, we put a cross up for when he died up here," Duncan said. "The girl that just went through
here knocked it down into the ditch also."
The majority of
these accidents are happening from about 10 PM to 10 AM. When drivers coming
from Marlow are cresting that hill, they only have a short distance to prepare
for that turn. In some cases, they miss it completely. They continue straight,
crashing through a makeshift barrier and winding up in the ditch. The ditch is
filled with mangled road signs and car parts.
Steve Crowe's
yard backs up to the dangerous intersection. He said he's seen 7 cars piled in
the ditch at once during the icy season. He said since he moved here in '98,
he's pulled well over 30 people out of cars that missed the turn.
"You hope
you can save those," Crowe said. "You hope that they do something to prevent it
so they don't have to."
Families just
like the Duncans
are wondering how many fatalities it will take to prompt the city to enforce
safety precautions.
"We react
to dangerous intersections after fatalities," Crowe said. "We don't react to
them when we start seeing a trend. They've put a bar three miles down the road.
Do you think that's not going to contribute to this?"
Crowe said over
the years the number and severity of the wrecks has grown.
"When you
first start out, they were just nosed over in there. Now, we're pulling bodies
out."
Both Duncan and
Crowe have their ideas about what needs to be done. Whether the answer is
filling in the ditch, creating a barrier or putting up an illuminated sign,
they're not sure. Once the new county commissioner
is sworn in after the beginning of the year, they plan on contacting him to get
the ball rolling on this.
