CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Jim Leavelle said six months ago he was home when a car crashed right into the fence of his backyard, with the driver later dying at the scene-but this wasn't the last time this happened.
Exactly six months later after the first incident, another car crashed right into his backyard.
"Six months to that day. It's pretty crazy when you get that call from your neighbor saying someone just drove through your backyard again," Leavelle said.
Leavelle said he has noticed the situation worsen over the last years.
"I think it is just a product of growth, when we first moved here Weber did not go through. It stopped at Aaron and now it goes through all the way to Crosstown. So you had new subdivisions behind Stripes, that adds to the traffic," Leavelle said.
According to The Corpus Christi Metropolitan Planning Organization Crash Data Base, from 2017 to 2021 there has been a total of 14 crashes near this area on Weber near Aaron and Bretton Road.
Public information officer for Texas Department of Transportation, Rickey Dailey said many of these crashes can be avoided.
"Safety is TXDOT’s top priority, and we urge all drivers to be safe and to drive smart," Dailey said. "What that means is to drive to the conditions if it’s rainy or if it’s foggy, slow down, do not speed buckle up, those will save a tremendous amount of lives."
"Everybody has to have a way home or a way to where they are going, and Weber has just become that. It is a state highway, and it is 45 and so you know if it's posted 45, probably 50 or 55 mph will be the minimum," Leavelle said.
Leavelle said for now the only solution is for people to be more cautious when they drive and to obey the speed limits.
"I have a little anticipation and a little uneasiness. We were here for 18 years and never had an issue and then we had three. We had one prior to these two in the last 6 months so it makes you a little more apprehensive," Leavelle said.
Neighbors in the area hope city officials will add a traffic light where Weber and Bratton Road intersect or add speed bumps to deter speeding drivers.
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