Let's prevent accidents - an example from Corydon in River Heights of how we can do better

The photos above tell the story of the recent accident on Corydon Street in which a car came through a fence and a garage - and as you can imagine was a pretty big shock to those living in the house. No one wants to have a car come crashing through their yard causing destruction like this. But it would appear that this may well have been preventable - let me explain - and suggest some changes.

At the time of the accident, there was construction on Corydon so that the lane closest to the boulevard was closed in the block next to the site of the accident. The result was traffic was funnelled into the lane closest to the houses along Corydon (the curb lane).

At the same time, a black car was parked (bottom photo) adjacent to the house. This meant that traffic in the curb lane had to immediately move to the outside lane to avoid the parked car.

It would appear that the driver of the car involved in the accident was coming along Corydon in the inner lane, and all of a sudden saw the car immediately in front of him and realized it was parked and not moving. He swerved to avoid the car, and instead of going to the outside lane as he should have done, moved to right, taking down a sign post and going right through the fence (top photo shows the newly repaired fence - where the car went through).

The car then proceeded to go through the garage wall (second photo) and to crash into the vehicle in the garage and come to a stop (third photo).

If you look carefully at the bottom photo, which I believe was taken shortly after the car crashed through the fence, you will see the broken fragments of the fence.

It is time to stop parking on this block of Corydon Ave, particularly when the traffic is funnelled (as it was) to the inner lane because of the construction. It should be noted that the car in question may have been parked there for quite some time - I was told for a month (it was advertised for sale, and the owner may have parked it there so it would get attention). A black car like this one is difficult to see late at night, and it is dangerous to have such cars parked in this location. This does not in any way excuse the actions of the driver in causing the accident. I suggest it does mean that preventing cars parking in situations like this is possible and would, in this instance, likely have prevented this accident.

The story I repeat here is information I obtained on visiting the owner of the home and learning about the circumstances of the accident.