Rollins Road residents speak out about speeding issues

Residents who live off Rollins Road in Columbia are questioning their safety after a fatal crash Friday morning.

Christopher Master’s car hit the sidewalk on one side of the street, crossed two lanes of traffic and crash into a tree in a residential road.

He was ejected from the car and pronounced dead at the scene.

As of Tuesday evening, authorities are still working on the cause of the crash.

Kristen Camp lives across the street from where the crash happened.

Her family was among the first responders, but it’s not the first time they’ve been first to the scene of a collision.

“If this was the first time this had happened, then it is still the most traumatic experience ever,” she said. “The fact that this has happened so many times, it doesn’t matter what was involved in this current crash. Something needs to be done.”

Councilman Ian Thomas brought up the road at Monday night’s city council meeting.

He believes it’s “poorly designed” as far as speed management goes.

Camp said that assessment isn’t far off.

“People are whipping around these corners, and they’re sharp corners and hills,” she said. “So it’s a very dangerous place to be driving.”

Camp has lived on the corner of Rollins Road for almost five years. She said crashes right outside her home or a half mile down the hill are not uncommon.

“One that actually hit our house, another that hit our tree right out here,” she said as she pointed out the damage. “My neighbors have also had multiple people hit their trees.”

Many neighbors echo Camp’s fears and concerns.

Richard Hayes lives at the bottom of the hill and said he is going to present a petition with several dozen neighbors’ signatures to public works Wednesday morning.

He said they’re requesting speed bumps or humps be put in. The speed limit is 20 mph, but people tend to go just a bit more than that.

ABC17 News clocked drivers all day and many were going 10 or 20 mph over.

Another resident, Rebecca Kerns, said she has been calling public works almost regularly, asking for some sort of recourse.

She’s concerned for the many families with extremely young children who run around and play outside.

She said she’s been told the area isn’t a priority.

Camp said the crash should be a wake up call, especially since she doesn’t feel safe letting her three kids play outside or even walk to the nearby elementary school.

Many neighbors with young children that ABC17 News spoke with Tuesday had the same fears.

“How many lives is that going to take,” Camp said. “I don’t want to have to see it with younger kids, I don’t want to see it with anyone, so I think it is a priority. It needs to be a priority.”

ABC17 News reached out to traffic engineers in Columbia to learn more about the structure of the road, including the sharp turns and narrow roads, to learn why it’s structured that way and if the speeding problem could be solved.

Public works said it wouldn’t comment until the official crash report is released.

Fourth Ward councilman Ian Thomas was unavailable for comment Tuesday, but many neighbors said he has been working with them to try to come up with a solution.