‘Oh, again?’: Speeding car hops curb, drives through more than five neighborhood properties
Ramon Nunez lives a few houses down from Julien and says neighbors are growing tired of reckless driving.
By Brett Kast, Marlon Falconer
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DETROIT (WXYZ) — An out-of-control driver crashed into fences and barreled through more than five properties in a southwest Detroit neighborhood, and residents say they’re getting tired of reckless drivers.
It happened Friday night around 11:30 p.m. near Clark Avenue and Toledo Street.
A 25 mph speed limit and speed humps did nothing to slow down the driver — neither did the stop sign or the curb.
The car hit the curb and took flight, going through multiple properties and fences, narrowly missing homes in the process. It finally came to a stop near a front porch after hitting a tree.
Usef Julien was inside his home when the car crashed, just a few yards away from the curb the car hit.
“You can see he bottomed out,” Julien said pointing to the curb. “Got the tire tracks right there, so he went right through there.”
The tire tracks in the grass show the path through the fence that Julien has already fixed. The video may be shocking but to Julien, the crash isn’t surprising.
“We get so many accidents right here. For me, it was just ‘oh, again?’” Julien said.
It was just last year in August that a neighbor near the same corner had a car crash into their front porch, leaving behind expensive damage that still has yet to be fixed.
Ramon Nunez lives a few houses down from Julien and says neighbors are growing tired of reckless driving.
“When I seen the video, I was like ‘thank God nobody died,” Nunez said. “I don’t know why people just floor it here, man. And there’s a lot of kids here.”
The city since put up a speed hump to slow drivers down, not to mention multiple speed limit signs, children playing signs and even flashing LED lights on a stop sign. However, none of that prevented Friday’s crash.
“Well, there’s no cure for stupidity,” Julien said. “You’re supposed to be responsible when you drive. Driving is a privilege, and an automobile is a weapon when the wrong person is using them.”
In the crash Friday, no homes were hit directly and no bystanders were hurt. Detroit police confirmed they responded to the crash, but details on the driver or potential cause were not readily available.
If there’s a solution out there, whether it’s bigger or more frequent speed humps, neighbors are on board. At the least, they want to speak out to bring more attention to the corner and are asking drivers to finally slow down.
“Traffic lights? OK, but people run traffic lights a lot too. Stop signs? They’re already there, so that’s not working,” Julien said. “I can’t imagine what would solve the problem but something to slow it down.”
“I want the city to pay really close attention to this intersection,” Nunez said. “I guess it’s a human thing, but if they could slow it down a little bit, make it a little bit safer, that’ll be cool.”
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