JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Residents of a Mandarin neighborhood say they are worried about the safety of their families after multiple cars have crashed into their backyards this year.
The three-way intersection of Loretto and Flynn Roads constantly has cars coming from every direction. Despite stop signs and reflective signs, residents say they often see cars speeding through the area and cars have crashed through their backyard fences, causing thousands of dollars of damage and fear for the safety of their families.
"We had fence pieces and chunks of cars spread up to our home," resident Olivia Shore said.
Six stop signs are at the intersection at Loretto and Flynn roads in Mandarin and homeowners say it's not enough.
"The car came through here, hit the tree as well hit my boat, damaged the boat, and of course, and the fence halfway down as well," resident Chris Wisong said.
Olivia Shore and Chris Wisong are neighbors whose backyards are just feet from the busy intersection. They say multiple cars have crashed in their backyards this year.
"At this point signs aren't cutting it. I've been asking the city is to have a guardrail put in or some further protection or mitigation to prevent these accidents from happening," Shore said.
Council member Michael Boylan says he is aware of the concerns and says he reached out to the city's traffic engineering department to find a better solution as soon as possible. So far, the city has installed these reflective signs as a guard between the intersection and resident's backyards one car ran right through the signage and the fence.
"The signs are great for people who are paying attention, but it doesn't stop an impaired driver, a driver having a medical emergency, or a distracted driver from just driving them over and going into the backyards of residents here," Shore said.
Shore and Wisong say they don't want to keep picking up car and fence parts from their yards and paying thousands of dollars from their pockets to fix the damage.
"I don't want to wait for a car to be in my bedroom or for my toddler to get hit playing in our backyard," Shore said.
Shore and Wisong say it's not only their backyards at risk but also electrical boxes that can danger the entire community if crashed into. Boylan says he hopes a guard rail can be placed in the intersection soon.