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Another wreck frays neighborhood nerves
By JOHN BALZ, Times Staff Writer CARROLLWOOD -- Cars keep crashing into the back yards of Shadybrook Drive homeowners. On Thursday morning, a 17-year-old driving a Honda Accord shattered Viki Juzwiak's fence. The wooden fence was still cracked from a car that careened off Anderson Road into her neighbor's yard in March.
"It seems like there's an accident every other week," said neighbor Danielle Fowler. It's become too much for Deborah Monteiro, who has stopped sleeping in her master bedroom because it borders her back yard. "I'm so paranoid that I'm moving out of my house," said Monteiro, 32. "I refuse to stay here." She is set to leave in September. Michael Dunlap, a Sickles High School student, was driving his mother's Honda when he crashed Thursday. He was on the way to pick up his car from the repair shop. Michael suffered minor injuries. His father, Tyler Dunlap, who came to the scene to retrieve books and CDs from the battered Honda, said Michael was lucky to be alive. Hillsborough sheriff's records indicate that five accidents have occurred on Shadybrook the past 21 months. Some residents say that figure is low. "There've been at least 10," said Lolita Emanuel Brown. Shadybrook Drive borders a curve in Anderson Road. The crashes happen when cars traveling at excessive speeds on the 45 mph stretch of Anderson fail to negotiate the curve. Often they plunge through the fence and onto residents' lawns and patios. "I can't have my kids playing out back," said Brown. Last March, Monteiro wrote a letter to County Commissioner Stacey Easterling asking for a concrete retaining wall on Anderson. She received a reply from the county's public works department that read, in part: "This is a properly designed road with an enforcement problem." Bob Gordon, an engineer in public works, said county and law enforcement officials plan to meet with residents about the accidents next month. "We don't have a plan at this point," he said. -- John Balz can be reached at (813) 269-5313 or at balz@sptimes.com.
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From the Times City Times - South Tampa North of Tampa Marlene Sokol Letters |
Thursday's accident was the second in eight days. A Toyota slammed into Iris DeCastro's pool last Wednesday. That too was a repeat affair. Last May, a car plunged off Anderson and into DeCastro's lanai, causing $31,000 in damage.
