SAN DIEGO — Neighbors on Streamview Drive in Oak Park are feeling unsafe as accidents continue to happen near one of the traffic circles there at the corner of Gayle Street, an intersection they’re calling a ‘death trap.’
“This is a community hazard of monumental proportion,” said April Mahoney, who has lived on Streamview for thirty years. The roundabout was installed by the City of San Diego in 2016, and April insists it’s been causing mayhem ever since. On Saturday, a speeding car crashed through her neighbor’s fence, smashing into their home. The whole thing was caught on surveillance video.
“What he ended up doing was slide into my neighbor’s yard, hitting into her car,” said Mahoney. “Look at the damage it did to her whole home. What if she was in her garage?”
These types of accidents have a lasting effect on people who live here.
“I’m traumatized. The house was shaking,” said Mahoney. “I’m scared to sit in my window.”
Mahoney claims there have been 8 accidents in the past 18 months, one of which included a drunk driver hitting her parked car in October 2021.
“He tried to deviate, hit the car and totaled four cars,” said Mahoney.
And six months before that, another car barreled through another neighbor’s retaining wall across the street, crashing into their home and their parked BMW.
“We have pedestrians. We have senior citizens. We have children,” said Mahoney. “People want to walk their dogs. Really?”
Mahoney says the low curb design is part of the problem.
“It’s flush with the asphalt,” said Mahoney. “There’s no deterrent to go around it. You just go over it.”
Other neighbors don’t feel safe either.
“People are coming around these corners way too fast,” said Meredith Thygeson. “You can’t pull out of your driveway without thinking you’re going to get hit.”
Neighbors are hoping for a change.
“Actually I think speed bumps would work best,” said Thygeson.
Others would like to see the traffic circle removed altogether.
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