A near fatal car crash at M-59 and Hacker road is now rattling some in the Howell and Hartland communities.
The accident happened on Friday morning at around 9am when two cars t-boned each other at a caution light.
Father Francis George of St. John’s Catholic Church played witness to the collision, given his church sits directly next to the signal.
He says the accident was by far the worst he's seen but that it's one of many he's witnessed over the last ten years.
Pictures of the crash circulated on Facebook through the church's post, with many in the community calling the intersection dangerous given the high speeds of drivers on M-59.
The speed limit on the road is 55, but the pastor says it's not unlikely to watch drivers go 60, or even 70 miles an hour, making it challenging for drivers on Hacker trying to pull out to make a turn.
According to data from the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office and Michigan State Police, from 2007 to 2016, there have been a total of 62 collisions within 200 feet of the intersection center.
The pastor says he’s tried for 10 years to get a full light installed at the intersection, over worry about the safety of his parishioners and other residents in the area.
After outcry from the community, a caution signal was installed back in 2012. And while he believes it has curbed the number of rear ending crashes, he worries its not enough.
MDOT says they conducted a study on the need for a full traffic signal there in 2010 and determined it was unwarranted. To ease community concern, they installed a caution light instead.
But as new fears re-emerge, they say another study on the need for a light at the intersection is underway. There's no word yet on when the results of the study will be released.
