Russ Kidwell moved into his house in Hurst in 1997. He said since then, nine cars have crashed through his fence into his backyard. One of those cars, he said, actually made it inside his house.
“The window’s gone, ended up going into the dining room, you can see the debris field, there was a magnolia tree that was here, he was on top of the magnolia tree, once he entered through the wall itself,” he said.
Kidwell said he and his neighbors have reached out to the city over the past 16 years.
“We’ve been before the city’s safety and traffic commission three times," he said. "We’ve had another individual go before the city safety and traffic commission once on our behalf. We went before the city council."
On Saturday, he said workers contracted with the city suddenly showed up to put up a guardrail at the trouble spot.
“It tabled every time before the city. I find it strange that suddenly this happens and now we’re getting 180 foot barricade that we asked for in 1998,” he said.
“It’s bittersweet, I feel sorry for the workers. They’ve told me that they feel unsafe. They’ve been honked at, cussed at, flipped off by people driving down the road.”
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Kidwell said he’s not sure a simple guardrail would actually fix the problem, however. The road in question, he said, is like a six-lane highway with countless cars speeding and a blind spot always tricking drivers.
“We have a beautiful backyard we’ve worked hard to make it into a park-like environment, but who wants to spend any time out here?” he asked. “The unfortunate thing is, it appears the simple remedy is to close the little median behind our home. We’ve been told the mayor uses that street to go to the grocery store, we’ve been told people like to go to Tom Thumb that way, it’s a block and a half street.”
The crashes on Kidwell's property have been featured on NBC 5 in the past. He said some viewers sent him negative feedback.
“A lot of people who saw your telecast on May 5th have written lots of letters saying, ‘Move, move, you’re an idiot, move.’ Do you want to buy my home?”
In another instance, he said “In your last telecast I know a lot of your viewers stated that they thought I was very selfish by not asking the condition of the driver- I’m sorry that he was drinking and driving, and I hope he’s recuperated.”
Kidwell hoped more improvements will be made in the near future to keep himself and all others traveling in the area safer.
“It’s beyond disgust, frustration, it’s almost laughable,” he said. “You sit back and go, how many times does this have to happen? With Hurst claiming to be a quality of life city, we’re just not feeling the love.”
