A car crashed through a bathroom, a bedroom and a living room Aug. 31 when speeding down Townsend and N Avenue 51, a common thoroughfare for drivers to go from Eagle Rock to Highland Park. According to the homeowner, Sara Lov, this isn’t the first time a vehicle has striked a home on her street. Lov said she and her son have sustained head injuries and are severely traumatized.
“If we hear a noise, we jump. I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s like a constant replay,” Lov said. “I had to pry him from behind the tire […] The soft couch and the soft drywall protected him from completely breaking. [I thought] ‘oh, is this it? Is this how I lose my son?’”
Lov said that the circumstances of the crash and the thought of what could have happened looms over her thoughts as well.
“What if we were sitting two feet over on the couch? What if my family was on the couch?” Lov said. “The idea that this happened inside of our home where we’re safe […] it’s just mind blowing and awful.”
According to Lov, there has been a history of motor accidents near the intersection.
“A few [neighbors] were like, ‘Oh yeah, this happened before, about 15 years ago,’” said Lov. “And I’m like, ‘What— to my house?’ And they’re like, ‘No, the one right next to you.’ […] they said a car ran through the living room.”
Neighbor Harleen Gill-Jessup and husband Kevin Gill-Jessup said that the cause might be related to a longstanding concern of theirs — a curve in the road that obstructs drivers’ ability to properly react to a stop sign.
“When you’re coming down the hill, just the angle that you’re at, you don’t see [the sign] until the last minute,” Harleen Gill-Jessup said. “They just blow through that [stop] sign.”
According to Harleen Gill-Jessup, recent construction of a bike lane prior to the crash has made it more difficult for drivers coming down this intersection.
“In order to [create the bike lane], they removed all the lines, so there’s no line in front of the stop sign,” said Kevin Gill-Jessup. “So if you aren’t familiar with the area, you won’t see the stop sign […] I saw it at the last second but I knew to stop there. But, if someone else is in my situation, they could have just [been] like, ‘Oh, it’s just a hill I go down. I don’t know that there’s this other street.’”
According to Harleen Gill-Jessup a stop line and labeling was placed on the road Sept. 5. She said she bike lane persists as a cause of worry among commuters from Eagle Rock to Highland Park, as it causes cars to stick out on the road in order to avoid going into the bike lane.
“When there’s a car sticking out into the street, you have to go around it, and then you’re in the way of all traffic on the other side of the street,” Harleen Gill-Jessup said. “We’re supportive of the bike lane so that we’re not more dependent on cars overall, but they’ve not taken into consideration the size and the amount of cars that come through.”
Lov said that there has been a lack of action by the city to keep the community safe.
“Somebody in the city should have fixed this when it happened 15 years ago,” Lov said. “Apparently neighbors have complained about it for years, and nothing’s been done.”
In an Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council meeting following the car crash, Kevin Gill-Jessup said he wants more safety precautions in place to prevent this from happening again.
“We really need speed reduction measures taken to reduce the speed of the cars that go down Townsend,” said Kevin Gill-Jessup. “And, possibly protected barriers to protect the houses at the other side of the intersection.”
Lov said that she is grateful they are alive, but cannot help but feel unsafe.
“All I care about is my son. You know, that’s the most important thing,” Lov said. “And I don’t want to say he’s okay, because I don’t know what’s gonna come after this.”
Contact Allyson Chan at achan2@oxy.edu.
