It was just before 3 a.m. when Jeff Eriksson and his wife Margie were jarred awake by the gut-churning sound of a vehicle smashing into their property. 

Rushing downstairs that early December morning, Eriksson saw considerable carnage in the backyard of his home near the intersection of West Front and Madison streets.

“I look out and see a vehicle that had wedged itself against our deck after jumping the curb, blowing through our fence and destroying our tree line,” Eriksson tells The Ticker. “The only thing that stopped it from crushing our house was the berm of the tree line where its wheels got stuck in a mound of dirt.”

The incident was distressing enough for Eriksson, his wife and their two young daughters. But it was particularly upsetting considering it’s exactly what he feared might happen when he moved into the home (the farthest west of the three white, new-build homes on the northwest corner of the intersection) in 2020.

A long, straight section of West Front already infamous for people pouring into town at high speeds makes a prounounced right curve just before before his home. Eriksson remembers staring down the barrel of that straightaway from his back deck and feeling a lump in his throat.

“It was my biggest concern from day one, looking at that road,” he says. “What happens in the winter when someone slides off the road, or if someone is going too fast?”

Eriksson, who works in medical device sales, is now making a push to have something done about the situation. The current state of affairs presents danger to himself and several of his neighbors, he says, and it’s “safe to say this will continue to happen.”

“In four years of living here, four vehicles have spun off the road and crashed either into the creek, our home, a transformer box, or power lines,” he says in an email to new City Engineer Anne Pagano.

Eriksson is hoping for a median, bollards between lanes, or a guardrail along the north side of Front Street, something – anything – that will prevent this from happening again.

"The swing in our backyard that our daughters play in regularly was hit by this vehicle and pulled,” he says. “Thank God this incident happened at 3 in the morning, but what if it happens at 2 in the afternoon?”

He was tempted to put large boulders along the edge of his own property, but was advised that he might then be liable himself if a driver is injured by smashing into them. He instead put in the tree line within his property for that purpose, and he believes it was key in stopping the car before it hit his house.

Pagano, who started only about a week ago, reached out to Eriksson to set up a meeting to discuss the issue and his concerns.

"I'm still getting up to speed on things, but this was one of the things that I saw right away when I got here and it's at the top of my list," she tells The Ticker. "I want to talk to fire and police about what's happened there in the past. We're also going to look at the geometry of the area to see if it meets any warrants for any kind of safety improvements. We want to do some research and see what we can do to help."

In addition to contacting Pagano, Eriksson planned to address city commissioners at their Tuesday night meeting.

Mayor Amy Shamroe, who was unfamiliar with the situation when contacted by The Ticker Tuesday morning, says she hopes and expects city staff will find an adequate solution to the issue.

“From what I can gather from the situation, I would be looking to staff for the best recommendation of what to do in that space...Obviously the safety of residents, and especially residents just minding their own business in their own homes, is very important,” she says. “They want to feel safe.”

Shamroe says city officials are already aware of issues on that stretch of Front Street, particularly speeding and high volumes of traffic, and have already instituted measures (including the stop sign at Front and Madison) in an effort to tame things.

While Shamroe says commissioners are always willing and eager to hear input from residents, she encourages any residents who experience issues to reach out to city staff, as they have the knowledge, experience and ability to tackle problems head on.

“If people are not sure (which department) to go to, go to the City Clerk’s office on the main floor of the Governmental Center,” she says. “Even if it’s not under their purview, they’ll direct you to the correct person to talk to.”

The driver of the car that smashed into Eriksson’s house does not face criminal charges at this time, according to court records. According to an incident report, the driver, 18, was “fatigued or asleep” at the time of the crash. Police indicated on that report that drugs were suspected to be a factor in the crash.