A bent light pole, torn turf and a smashed fence are becoming a common scene for Pauline Evans and neighbor Mary-Grace McCoy. In the last eight years, seven people crashed on the curve off New Hope Road. Four people went straight through the fence and into the women's back yards.
"It's not a fluke," Evans said.
The problem appears to be a combination of how the road curves, speed and the height of the road compared to the back yards below.
"It's like a roller coaster. They just go right down that hill," McCoy said.
McCoy and Evans said the fence and property damage is a minor issue compared with the what could happen to their children who play in the back yard.
"I'm just terrified that it's going to come right down that hill and through the fence and get them," McCoy said.
McCoy and Evans said they want a guard rail to keep cars that lose control on the road. They said repeated calls to people at the Department of Transportation got them nowhere.
"We have gone around and around, even trying to get them to identify who is responsible for this stretch of road," McCoy said.
The women decided to call Five On Your Side. Five On Your Side contacted a spokesman with the state Department of Transportation who said the stretch of road was its responsibility. However days later, he said he found out it belongs to the city of Raleigh.
So Five On Your Side called city transportation director Jimmy Beckom. Beckom came out to assess the site and asked Five On Your Side to send him all the information about the seven accidents on the road. Beckom said, "I want to do what we need to do."
Evans and McCoy feel what he needs to do is put up a guardrail.
"I don't know if it's going to take some innocent bystanders, you know, to get hurt in order for some action to take place," Evans said.
Beckom said he will take a look at the police reports and other information Five On Your Side provided. He said he will know within a couple of days whether a guardrail can be installed.
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