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College Station business owner outraged by lack of road safety
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College Station business owner outraged by lack of road safety

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) says there have been more than 1,000 crashes along State Highway 30 in the past 10 years. For that concern, College Station business owners say they worry about everything on that thoroughfare.

Michael Heinz said he sprang into action Tuesday morning after seeing a car crash right in front of his workplace, Texas Landscape Creations, on Highway 30.

“I stayed there with her. I was on the steps, reaching into the car, holding her hand. We didn’t want to move her until the paramedics got there,” Heinz said. “I just know that one of these days we’re going to run up there and somebody’s going to be dead.”

According to TxDOT, the intersection of Highway 30 and Bird Pond Road is a hot spot for collisions. In that specific area, the department has reported 13 accidents in the past decade. One of them was fatal.

Texas Landscape Creations owner Jeff David said he has seen several of these accidents and has contacted TxDOT numerous times with concerns, but said nothing has changed.

“Countless, countless close calls. It’s not unusual to be here and hear the horns blaring up ahead and we’re all praying you don’t hear the crash afterwards,” said David.

David told KTBX that the response he received from TxDOT to his safety concerns got him and the safety of Bryan-College Station residents nowhere.

“‘Thank you for providing us with information. We will consider this,'” David relayed. “That was a year and a half ago.”

Local police told KBTX that the leading cause of accidents in this area is failure to control speed, which is different from speeding.

“The speed limit might be 30 miles an hour. You are going 30 miles an hour and the car in front of you is going to slow down and you are not slowing down. You weren’t speeding, but the speed you were going was a factor in that crash,” explained Officer Seth Waller of the Bryan Police Department.

Finally, David and Heinz want to see a safer road.

“We’re trying to make sure we can save someone from dying, or more people from dying right there in front of our office,” added David.

TxDOT declined KBTX’s request for comment and interview.