Thousands of Masters patrons bring less car crashes, data shows

While almost 40,000 patrons travel to Augusta annually for the Masters Tournament, data shows the city is on top of traffic control; less accidents occurring during Masters weekend than other weekends in April.

On a normal day, Washington Road, the main road used to get to Augusta National, typically services about 50,000 cars in a 24-hour period, according to John Ussery, assistant director of the City of Augusta Traffic Engineering Division.

During Masters week, that number jumps to 80,000 cars per day, according to Ussery.

"We see a good increase during Masters week," Ussery said. "You'll see an extra 20,000 to 30,000 vehicles a day during Masters week."

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During the weekend of The Masters in 2022, April 7-10, there were 117 collisions, with no fatalities and 30 injuries, according to city records.

However, during the same time span on another April weekend, April 21-24, there were 123 collisions with 58 injuries, according to records.

While locals that have to drive down Washington Road during Masters week may be surprised given the congestion, Ussery said those numbers reflect the city's heightened safety during the tournament.

"We're a lot more hands on with traffic than we normally are," Ussery said. "We're monitoring it much closer than we normally do. We have a whole room full of people during Masters week. We have signal technicians, engineers and some representatives from the state. We're all watching traffic very closely to make sure everybody can get to and from where they want to go."

During a normal week, Ussery explained traffic systems are mostly automated.

"We do occasionally look in on it, but we're not watching it every minute of every day," he said. "During Masters week, it's a little different. Especially the routes that lead to and from the golf course, we're very observant about what's going on all day long, from early in the morning until late at night."