Cars keep crashing into Centerville family's fence; homeowners want solutions

CENTERVILLE — A driver crashed through a Centerville family's fence and then into their neighbor's backyard Saturday night.

The incident happened near the intersection of Chase Lane and 400 East at approximately 9 p.m. when Julianne Zollinger and her husband were putting their children to bed.

"(The driver) had come through the intersection at, I think they estimated around 60 miles per hour, and hit our fence, hit our peach tree, went through our raised garden bed, then through our backyard fence with a retaining wall," Zollinger explained.

The driver was gone by the time they got outside, but their fence line and their neighbors' was damaged.

"We hear a huge crash and, because this has happened so many times, both me and my husband instantly knew that someone had hit our fence," she said.

No one was hurt, but both of the families impacted said they are frustrated.

"The fence makes us feel safe, but then to see it laying on the ground like this reminds us of the danger of the street nearby," neighbor Todd Haag said.

The Haag and Zollinger families said drivers turn at the intersection near their houses way too quickly. Zollinger can recall eight to 10 crashes into the fence over the years.

"The last two incidents have been very dramatic," she said. "The incident before this, the car flipped over and landed in the middle of our backyard."

Zollinger said the streets need more signage, and more streetlights and barricades should be built. She's gone to city leaders about the issue.

"I think it'd be so easy to put some barricades in our park strip, and when we've asked about that, they've said for legal liability reasons, they don't think it would be a good idea," she said.

In an email sent to KSL-TV, Centerville Police Chief Paul Child said he's aware of complaints about that intersection.

He said a couple of years ago, he asked the public works director and the city engineer to look at the situation. Child said that complaint was regarding slick winter conditions causing cars to slide into the properties.

In Child's email, he wrote;

"The City Engineer and Public Works Director determined that there was a problem with the drainage system, which allowed water to flow over the road, causing very slick road conditions. To solve this problem, they decided to install another drain in the curb and gutter, and that work was completed the following summer. I talked with the Public Works Director at the time about installing a guardrail, but the Engineer and Public Works Director felt the problem would be solved once the drainage system was fixed," He said he's aware of this most recent incident, and he's talking to the city's new public works director about assessing the problem."

Zollinger said she plans to go to city council meetings with her neighbors to continue to bring attention to the issue.

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