Augusta workers trim trees, move stop sign following fatal accident

Friday, July 26, 2019

News 12 at 6 O'Clock/NBC at 7

AUGUSTA, GA (WRDW/WAGT) -- Just hours after an accident there killed a woman, City of Augusta workers were trimming trees and moving a stop sign at West Road and Warren Road.

The accident killed 52-year-old Barclay Pittman of Grovetown.

"The stop sign was also relocated to move it farther away from the trees so overgrowth will not be an issue in the near future," City of Augusta official John Ussery said.

Investigators believe Barclay ran a stop sign on West Road. Barclay's car was then struck by another car, causing it to overturn, according to officials.

Meanwhile, Barclay's family now wonders if she even saw the stop sign at all because of the trees.

"I just don't want to see this happen to anybody else," Barclay's wife, Wanda Pittman, said. "The grief that I'm going through, I just don't want anybody else to feel that."

Wanda says Barclay was going to a friend's house to help her fix an electrical box and help her move.

"I said, 'You're three minutes away,'" friend Beth Wiseman said. "And I waited. After 5 minutes I got in my car and said I'll just go find her."

Then Wiseman found the accident.

"When I turned on West [Road], I saw a car flipped over. I just saw the bottom side. And I saw the fire engines," Wiseman said.

Wanda hopes the work the city did late Thursday prevents future accidents. But for Barclay, it's too little, too late.

We did ask the sheriff's office for the number of incidents that have happened at the intersection, but we're still waiting on those numbers. We'll keep you updated.