Despite dozens of crashes, no improvements planned at crash-prone Durham intersections

"I hear the tires screeching and the crash happen almost every time," Andrew Preiss, who lives near the intersection, in the Duke Park neighborhood. "I know it’s been hundreds and hundreds of them since we moved in. We hear the crash, [and] we go, 'Here we go again.'"

Marty Homan, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, noted that the Roxboro Street/I-85 intersection, as well as others with numerous crashes, are all areas with high traffic volume.

But nearby residents said several of the more crash-prone intersections are adjacent to residential neighborhoods, and Durham and DOT officials could take steps to reduce crashes there.

"They didn’t anticipate the volume of traffic that we have, along with the way people drive now," Shiflett said. "People are texting. They’re eating. They’re reading."

"People getting off the highway tend to be thinking in a mindset of going 70 mph, and they don’t effectively stay under the speed limit," Preiss agreed.

Durham residents clamor for safety improvements to North Duke Street 'mini-freeway'

"Even with the flashing lights and the pedestrian sign there, and the state law that you have to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk, people do not do it," he said.

Preiss said he's written to Durham traffic officials and to the DOT but has gotten nowhere.

"I think enforcement of the speed limit would certainly help, and there’s some other traffic calming methods that could be done to restrict the lane width and introduce parking," he said.

Homan said only one of the 10 most crash-prone intersections – Roxboro Street at Morehead Avenue, which is miles away from Preiss' and Shiflett's neighborhoods – has improvements proposed. But even that is far off because no funding has been arranged for it, he said.

"You can’t really initiate change overnight, and if you really have an issue that’s important, you just have to keep at it," Preiss said.