Crashes, property damage and death: Family wants speed limit lowered on N.C. 96

“He got maybe 50 yards to the store, and the guy hit him,” brother Bobby Jent said. “I mean, he was doing every bit of 70 mph.”

Bobby Jent said he’d like to see the speed limit lowered from the current limit of 55 mph to 35 mph.

“We got to do something about this because now we’ve lost something we can’t ever get back,” Bobby Jent said of his younger brother.

Three crosses stand outside the food mart as a memorial to DJ Jent. The mart’s security cameras caught the moments after the crash that killed DJ Jent.

“You hear a noise or a horn and first thing I’m doing is looking out the window going, ‘Is it another one?’” Bobby Jent said. “It’s bad.”

Family: Teen killed in crash at Zebulon gas station was kind, hardworking

A year after the crash that took DJ Jent’s life, Bobby Jent saw another crash along the same stretch of Zebulon Road, also known as North Carolina Highway 96. Bobby and DJ Jent’s 20-year-old stepbrother Aaron Naceur was a passenger in a car hit in front of the family’s home.

“I saw it was my little brother’s friend’s car, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, not again,’” Bobby Jent said. “That was my first thought was, ‘not again.’”

Bobby Jent said Naceur is ok after the crash.

“He had a pretty nasty chunk taken out of his knee cap,” Bobby Jent said of Naceur. “He’s better now, but he had to get stitches and things like that.”

Bobby Jent’s phone is a collection of photos and videos of crashes he’s witnessed in front of the family home along the roadway.

“It’s almost like you’re not family or friend out here if you haven’t either seen an accident or been in an accident,” Bobby Jent said.

Bobby Jent said he’s scared to let his kids play outside near the roadway.

He also said homeowners on the road don’t let their dogs roam near the road, where mailboxes have been damaged and his nephews school bus was rear-ended.

“It’s gotten progressively worse to the point where – what’s next,” Bobby Jent said.

WRAL Investigates reviewed North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) crash data along a two-mile stretch of N.C. Highway 96 around Mitchell Mill Road.

In the last five years, there have been 73 crashes, resulting in one death and 37 injures.

The NCDOT recently completed a safety project near the intersection, painting wider lane markings on the pavement. The state said thicker yellow and white lines are easier to see and better warn drivers if they're leaving their lane.

After any deadly crash, the state said it looks at the safety of the road. The state also plans to study the effectiveness of the recent safety project after six to 12 months.