Family wants caution light
Published 3:19 am Saturday, November 5, 2016
Miranda Oleniczak is grieving after losing her grandparents last week in a tragic accident at the intersection of Horn Hill Road and Hwy. 84, but that hasn’t stopped her from getting the ball rolling to prevent the same tragedy from happening in someone else’s family.
Oleniczak’s grandparents, Irving Ladon Bullard, 82, and Mary Ellen Bullard, 77, were killed when the 1996 Dodge Dakota pick-up truck driven by Mr. Irving collided with a 2017 Peterbilt tractor-trailer.
Oleniczak said she is a former resident of Horn Hill.
“My maternal grandparents lives at the corner,” she said. “It’s just my grandfather now, but he can hear the sirens every time something happens.”
Her plan is to persuade DOT to put a caution light or a red light at the intersection.
“I have witnessed several accidents myself,” she said.
In hopes of getting DOT to place a caution light, she launched an online petition.
At press time, she had 677 signatures.
“My hope is to help protect the people who come and go there every day,” she said. “Since the Hwy. 84 bypass in Opp opened in 2006, there has been over 40 car accidents with many of these accidents resulting in fatalities because of the inability to see oncoming traffic going westbound.”
Oleniczak said her maternal grandmother listened to the scanner daily and kept track of the wrecks.
“My goal is to keep it from happening to someone else’s grandparents, someone’s kids or a bus,” she said. “My older brother is a lawyer and he is writing up some letters to Jimmy Holley and Mike Jones to try to help get this set up.”
To sign the petition, go to
https://www.change.org/p/mike-jones-state-of-alabama-representative-we-need-a-caution-redlight-at-the-intersection-of-84-and-horn-hill-road/c