Local

Merritt Island residents upset over numerous crashes at dangerous intersection

MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. — Some residents on Merritt Island called Channel 9 for help after they saw their neighborhood on the news Monday night.

Residents near the intersection of Newfound Harbor Drive and Keokuk Street said their front lawns are turning into crash scenes, because drivers won't slow down.

The latest two crashes took out two power poles that sit feet part off a curve in the road.

Residents who have lived in the area for 20 years said the problems go farther back than that.

"I seen it out of the corner of my eye and she went airborne and went right into the pole," neighbor Teresa Plagman said of one crash.

"One day, (a neighbor) was outside and had to run out of the way to keep from getting hit," said resident Ken Hughes.

Mike Thompson calls his home Ground Zero since most of the cars end up in his front yard.

"It's constant and whenever it happens, I have to organize all the repairs," he said.

When Channel 9 ran the number with Florida Highway Patrol, they said they alone have responded to more than a dozen crashes on New Found Harbor Dr. between Outer Drive and Merrimack Drive since 2006. Half of the crashes happened at New Found Harbor Drive and Keokuk Street.

"It's not so much the volume of traffic, it's the speed of the traffic," said resident Bobby Fowler.

Channel 9's Racquel Asa put drivers to the test and not many were clocked driving the speed limit, which residents said is already too fast for the curves.

"This stuff needs to be stopped right now," said Plagman.

What's most concerning to residents is that between the two power poles that were struck by a car, there's a bus stop.

The county said it is in the process of making changes to the road that would force drivers to slow down.