For the second time in eight days, a Barrow County employee has been injured in a wreck on Hwy. 211 while attempting to turn left onto Barrow Park Drive.
Gail Buchanan, a senior clerk in the Barrow County Magistrate's Office, is being treated at Gwinnett Medical Center and, despite extreme damage to her car, does not appear to have life-threatening injuries.
Sheriff Jud Smith told the Barrow Journal today that Buchanan was behind the wheel of her Chrysler Sebring just before 8 a.m and was stopped in the northbound travel lane of the two-lane highway waiting to turn left, because there is no turn lane at that location.
The driver of a loaded 18-wheeler coming out of the city of Winder – and picking up speed as the truck moved down the road's decline – was unable to make the unexpected stop.
So in order to avoid the car, he pulled into the oncoming lane just as Buchanan made the left turn to come to work at the Barrow County Criminal Justice Center.
Buchanan's car was struck on the driver's side by the truck.
When emergency personnel arrived, she appeared to be seriously injured, and there was discussion of calling for a Life Flight helicopter to transport her to a trauma unit.
However, the emergency personnel were able to stabilize Buchanan's condition at the scene, and she was taken by ambulance to Gwinnett Medical Center, Smith said.
He said the latest report from those at the hospital with her is that Buchanan has lacerations and an injured shoulder, but her injuries do not appear to be life-threatening.
The accident happened one day after workers from the Georgia Department of Transportation erected large signs on the shoulder of the busy highway to caution drivers leaving Winder to watch for vehicles attempting to turn left onto Barrow Park Drive.
One week before the signs went up, the director of Barrow County's Department of Roads & Fleet was injured in a wreck at the same location as he was attempting to make a left turn in his county truck.
The injuries of Nat Dukes were not serious, though he was shaken up by the July 29 wreck, according to sources.
The driver of the vehicle that struck his truck was an older man who said he did not see the stopped vehicle soon enough to be able to stop.
The two accidents happened at a well-known trouble spot that has been the subject of years of controversy due to the lack of a turn lane.
Commission Chairman Danny Yearwood last week said he would ask the Barrow County Board of Commissioners to approve the expenditure of about $200,000 from county reserves to construct the left-turn lane on the state-owned highway.
For more on this story, see the August 11 edition of the Barrow Journal or click here to read the full story online when you subscribe to our new e-edition. 
Try being in the situation before you call other folks names.
This undoubtedly comes as a nasty shock to one as egocentric as you are, but your opinion carries no weight with anyone but yourself. If your fiancee is remotely nubile and sentient, she might reconsider before attaching herself legally to a deluded malcontent. But, in case her desperation persists, don't bother to invite me.
Happy motoring, Mario!
Yes this is a good use of paper space and Tax Payer Money.
People should pay attention when they are driving.
We as Barrow Countians need to contact Mr. England and let him know that we will not settle until this matter has been resolved.