Family injured in wreck on Thigpen Trail

MOULTRIE, Ga. — Four people were injured in a Christmas Eve accident at a notorious road in Colquitt County when a Florida driver ran a stop sign and caused a collision.

None of the injuries were serious, but the collision came at an intersection that has concerned county officials and been the site of a number of serious accidents and at least one fatality.

Monday’s accident at the Highway 37 and Thigpen Trail intersection occurred at about 6:50 a.m., according to the Georgia State Patrol, which investigated the accident.

Gladys Hicks, 71, of Tallahassee was driving a 2006 Chevrolet HR north on Thigpen Trail and stopped at the stop sign, agency reports said. Hicks then drove into the intersection where a 2004 GMC Yukon driven by Betty Trimble was heading west.

The Yukon struck Hicks’ car in the west lane, with the Chevrolet coming to rest on Highway 37 facing north and the Yukon on Thigpen Trail.

Hicks and Trimble, 28, of Moultrie, and Trimble’s passengers Taurus Edwards, 42, and Ta’Keem Edwards, 2, were taken to Colquitt Regional Medical Center by paramedics, according to GSP reports.

All were treated and released, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Hicks was cited for failure to yield after stopping at stop sign, the GSP said.

Officials have said GPS devices giving the shortest route for drivers traveling from the Tallahassee area to Atlanta are routed along the twisting county-maintained road. Law enforcement patrols on Thigpen Trail have resulted in a number of speeding tickets to drivers whose speeds registered at more than 70 miles per hour; officers have said many of the cars stopped for high speeds have Florida tags.

County officials also have received reports of out-of-town drivers knocking on doors at night after they get lost when they lose phone service on the rural stretches of the roadway.

A 24-year-old Atlanta woman was killed in a collision at the intersection in November 2017 when the driver she was riding with pulled into the path of a semi truck heading east on Highway 37. The driver was a Tallahassee resident.