After a number of crashes, cars into homes, some who live in one Lafayette neighborhood are calling for change.
Those crashes have all happened on East Martial off of Kaliste Saloom. The most recent one was Wednesday morning.
Residents say the first four homes along this road have either been hit or had crashes happen in their yard. Now, they’re hopeful the city will step in to make drivers slow down.
“It was just the biggest boom,” said Sheila Shaumock.
She was home with her son when a car barreled through their garage. Neighbors say the driver had a medical emergency causing him to blackout.
“He hit it so hard,” said Shaumock. “We had a freezer against the wall and another big chest and all kinds of stuff. It just was thrown halfway across the garage. I mean it was a heavy freezer. It was full.”
Shaumock says crashes along East Martial are becoming all too common. Her neighbor, Michael Murray said, “Visitors from out of town came through that fence and knocked over my column.”
Further down the road, a similar story, but this time fatal.
“Someone had lost control, came through the ditch, hit the tree,” said Matthew Melancon.
Those we talked to say they’d like to see the speed limit lowered. Right now, it’s 40 MPH.
“With the speed limits around here, I think it’s really bad,” Melancon said. “I think it should be lowered and it doesn’t take much for something to happen.”
Shaumock said, “I don’t want to live through that again. It could have been so much worse if it hit a bedroom or whatever. We’re lucky that’s where it hit.”
LCG says crews will conduct a speed study in the neighborhood which should last several weeks. From there, a decision will be made on whether the speed limit will change.
