Milledgeville residents want action over speeding issues on neighborhood street

Residents say fast-moving traffic has made the neighborhood unsafe for children, pedestrians and pets.

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Residents along Old Mill Court Road in Milledgeville say speeding vehicles are creating dangerous conditions in their neighborhood, leaving families worried about safety and demanding action from city leaders.

Resident Taleija Bennerson says for months, she and her neighbors have watched cars race through the area, making it unsafe for children and pedestrians.

“And on this end, we have a lot of children under three, and they can’t come outside to play because it’s so much speeding going on,” Bennerson said. “And I mean, 50 plus mph on this road.”

Bennerson says the speeding turned deadly when her service dog, Wifi, was hit by a car and killed.

“It was very hard!” she said. “Because again, everyone in this neighborhood is aware of who my dog is. They’re aware that it’s him and another dog that likes to run together and play together. He is friendly with all the neighbors; they give him treats; they rub him and play with him. He was also a service animal, so he did provide support to people he believed needed it.”

Following the incident, Bennerson started a petition called Wifi’s Watch, which she says has been signed by about 70 percent of the neighborhood. She plans to bring it before city council.

“We have disabled adults and children that walk around,” she said. “And it could have easily been that they were bent over somewhere or something distracted them and got hit! That’s terrible, and that’s why I started the Wifi’s Watch petition.”

Another resident, Christena Bennerson, says the lack of traffic calming measures adds to the frustration.

“As you clearly can see, there’s no speeding bumps, no signs, and that’s on this side of the community,” she said. “On the other side, there’s speeding bumps, so why can’t we have that here? To protect our fur babies, children, the elderly, it can be anybody. But we don’t we have that here, so that is a major problem for me.”

Residents Michael Simmons and Simone Brown echoed those concerns.

“They roll pretty fast, you know for a neighborhood 35 to 40 mph, and that’s fast in a neighborhood,” Simmons said.

“We have a lot of kids,” Brown said. “We have animals, then we have elderly people, and we also have a few special needs people that walk up and down this neighborhood a lot.”

41NBC has reached out to the Milledgeville Police Department and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office for comment but has not yet received a response.