MCMAHAN, Texas — We all know of at least one intersection in Central Texas that's dangerous, but there's one in Caldwell County that has KVUE viewers begging for a change.
"Everybody's in a hurry to go someplace," said Tom Will, Caldwell County Constable for Precinct 2. "You hear a lot of excuses, [and] I've heard them all."
Will has been called out to many bad wrecks and has seen a lot in his years in law enforcement. But he said something has to change when the calls continue to come from one particular intersection.
"When you start having two and three, four, five in a year, it's way too many," Will said.
The intersection of FM 713 and FM 86 in McMahan is the one Will has been called out to many times. Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) records show that there have been 44 crashes at this intersection alone over the past 10 years.
"Seems like there should be more than that," Will said. "I can remember more than I had in the last."
The intersection is in front of the McMahan Country Store, where Megan Rogers works the registers.
"People just don't pay attention," Rogers said. "People blow through that stop sign all the time."
Rogers' mom is a dispatcher, so she's heard the stories of those involved in collisions at the intersection.
"She didn't even want me driving over here because of how dangerous this intersection was," Rogers said.
It's easy to see the danger of the intersection if you watch. While KVUE's Rob Evans was filming this story, a white truck nearly T-boned and collided with another vehicle.
Last month, two people died at the intersection. Rogers explained that one of the drivers was on his way to church before the deadly collision.
"He was one of our regulars," Rogers said. "He actually came in a couple of days before the wreck, and I had a conversation with him."
To stop the crashes, Rogers and Will are asking that something be done to improve the intersection. Multiple suggestions have been made to improve it, including a four-way stop or better signage. Will suggests installing flashing lights around a stop sign.
"And it's not going to totally stop the wrecks," Will admitted, "but it will slow a lot of them down."
A TxDOT spokesperson responded to KVUE's request for comment with the following statement:
"Safety is a top priority at TxDOT. Our traffic section looks into every fatality crash in the district to determine if additional safety measures are warranted.”