Wilco records 9th traffic fatality in last 10 months

In recent decades, Wilkinson County has averaged between three and four traffic fatalities per year, according to Georgia Department of Transportation data.

That’s what makes the recent uptick so notable. An 88-year-old man lost his life in a single-vehicle accident on Mt. Carmel Road over the weekend, marking the fourth traffic fatality this year and the ninth since last September. The deceased was identified as James Calvin Jones, 88. Jones grew up in Wilkinson County before moving to Dudley in Laurens County roughly 30 years ago, according to his obituary with Stanley Funeral Home. He was retired from Central State Hospital in Milledgeville.

Jones was driving his black Dodge Ram pickup truck when it “left the right side of the roadway” and “traveled approximately 300 feet on the right shoulder of the roadway and across a gravel driveway prior to re-entering the roadway,” according to the Georgia State Patrol accident report. The crash occurred near Mt. Carmel’s intersection with Carl Smith Road. The pickup then “traveled across the centerline of the roadway and off the left shoulder before striking a tree with its front end. (The vehicle) came to a rest at the area of impact. (Jones) was extricated from the vehicle, added the report.

The ages of the nine people who have lost their lives in traffic fatalities in the last 10 months are 17, 28, 31, 58, 61, 83, 83, 86 and 88.