Car Crashes Into Yard, Hits Mailbox, Trees In Vienna (ICYMI)

VIENNA, VA—A car that crashed into a Vienna resident's yard has caused neighbors to resurface calls for safety measures on the street. Suzanne Dudek, a resident of East Street NE, tells Patch a car accident damaged her property on Sunday, July 10, the second accident within months at that spot. She says her car was also totaled in March.

According to Vienna Police, the driver went over the curb, hit the mailbox at 313 East Street NE and stopped when crashing into a tree. Officer Juan Vazquez, a spokesman for police, told Patch alcohol did not contribute to the accident. (Sign up for real time alerts and a newsletter. iPhone users can download the Patch app in the App Store. Plus, like Vienna Patch on Facebook.)

Dudek tells Patch her family was at the pool the a car drove 50 feet into her yard without stopping. The accident not only damaged her mailbox and yard, but it damaged a decades-old cherry tree. But what most concerns her is that her six kids could have been hit if they were in the yard. "Someone could've been killed," she said.

East Street is a shortcut of sorts out of Vienna, winding around Westwood Country Club before turning into Old Courthouse Road between Tysons and Wolf Trap. But unlike the nearby Fairway Drive NE, there's no restricted access signage. In 2007, drivers used East Street as a detour when Beulah Road was closed for a storm drain project. But even since Beulah Road reopened, drivers continue to use it as a shortcut.

Although the speed limit is 25 miles per hour, residents feel it is not enough to prevent accidents. In 2009, residents on the street signed a petition requesting speed bumps or restricted access signs in the 300 block. This led to one-day traffic study of drivers on July 29, 2009. The study found 85.5 percent of 1,938 drivers went over the speed limit, but Dudek says that number could be higher if performed during the school year.

The town considered the traffic measures for East Street in August 2009. It concluded that the measures could not happen, mainly due to the street being an emergency vehicle route for police and firefighters. In addition, the residents were unsuccessful in petitioning to stop a Fairfax Connector bus route down the street.

A neighbor, Adrienne Morrow told Vienna Patch on Facebook that over 10 years, three or four parked cars were hit at 313 East Street, a parked car was totaled at 311, a mailbox and tree was hit at 308 and 304, another tree was hit at the East and Church intersection, and a parked car was hit at 300. "Yet the town rejected all requests for speed bumps and restricted access, but the county approved an empty county bus that flies down the street daily," she wrote.

The residents continue to be unwavering in their push for safety measures. The neighbors are submitting another petition in light of Sunday's crash.

"The residents are infuriated, saddened, and frustrated. Moreover, they are scared – scared that they take their lives in their hands when they go to get their mail, put out their trash, or walk their children to the bus stop," a resident, who prefers to remain anonymous, wrote in a letter to the town July 10.

Pictured in the first two images is Sunday's car accident at 313 East Street NE. The last two images are other crashes on the 300 block of East Street NE. All photos courtesy of Sue Dudek