Jones County was having a perfect year without any fatal accidents until August, when fatalities occurred in two separate motorcycle accidents.
By November there had been four fatalities, the same number of traffic deaths as 2023.
The first fatality of 2024 took place Aug. 10 on Bethlehem Church Road. The time of the accident was estimated at 9 p.m. A report of the accident by Jones County Sheriff’s Deputy Jared Marcum stated a 2024 dirt bike driven by Robert Weldon Gossett, 53, of Gordon, was traveling west on Bethlehem Church Road when he struck a metal post off the south shoulder of the road with the left side of the dirt bike.
Marcum said the driver and the bike fell into the ditch and tumbled for approximately 100 feet before coming to rest in the ditch. The driver’s death was attributed to fatal injuries sustained in the crash.
The second fatality took place two weeks later, Aug. 25, on Fortville Milledgeville Road. A report of the accident by JCSO Deputy Ayla Morris stated the 2000 Harley Davidson driven by Curt McArthur Johnson, 54, of Haddock, was traveling west when a deer entered the roadway. Morris said the driver swerved to avoid the deer and lost control, leaving the roadway and colliding with a utility pole on the east bound of the roadway.
The deputy said the vehicle overturned and came to a stop on the east bound side of the roadway, approximately 15 feet from the utility pole.
A 68-year-old Jones County woman lost her life Oct. 23 in an accident involving a tractor-trailer at the intersection of Gray Highway and Joycliff Road.
The deceased was identified as Lily Greer, and the accident took place just after 1 p.m. A report of the accident by Deputy Matthew Lee Dennis stated Greer was driving a 2011 Chevrolet HHR. The other vehicle was a 2022 Volvo truck.
Dennis said the HHR was in the southbound turning lane at the intersection. He said the truck was traveling north when the HHR crossed into its lane of travel. The deputy said as a result, the front end of the truck struck the right side of the HHR.
Dennis said both vehicles came to an uncontrolled rest at the corner of the intersection. He said a witness to the accident reported there was no way the driver of the truck had time to react in time to prevent the collision.
The deputy said the truck driver stated the vehicle pulled into her lane of travel, and she was unable to stop. Video footage from the truck verified the truck driver’s account.
Dennis reported that, while still on the scene, he was notified by dispatch that Greer was pronounced deceased on arrival by hospital personnel.
The final fatality took place Nov. 26 on Graham Road. A report of the accident by Deputy Mathew Johnson stated Joseph Kurt Mickulin, 57, of Jones County, struck a 2015 Tahoe in the rear that was turning into a driveway on Graham Road at approximately 6 p.m. Mickulin was driving a 2012 Mazda.
Johnson said the deceased was not wearing a seatbelt, and the vehicle’s airbag did not deploy. The report stated Mickulin was killed on impact. The driver of the Tahoe and a passenger were both transported to the hospital for treatment.
