When an SUV crashed into Linda and Wayne Condon’s house in the early morning hours of May 7, the couple wasn’t overly surprised.

Linda Condon said this wasn’t the first time a vehicle had hit their house at the corner of Cumberland and Pierce streets. She said the house has been struck more than once, and the corner is getting a reputation around town as “Crash Corner.”

Two years ago, after the house was hit for the last time, the city placed large boulders on the corner of the Condons lawn to act as a guardrail. Last Saturday, the SUV hit one of the boulders and kept going until it slammed into the corner of the house. Linda Condon said the whole shook with the impact.

In the four-and-a-half years the Condons have lived at the house at 484 Cumberland St., they’ve had similar incidents two other times where vehicles ended up in their yard.

In fact, just this week, there was another close call. A vehicle ran into the telephone pole on the corner of their property, shaking the house and knocking the pole off kilter. Condon said she heard the driver tell police an oncoming car blinded him with his high beams.

Condon said there have been a number of other incidents in that stretch of Cumberland Street. The Westbrook police, administration and council are at a loss as to what to do to solve the problem.

“I don’t know what the next step would be,” said Police Chief Paul McCarthy. “The best possible option is the most expensive-to straighten that curve.”

“We’ve looked at a whole lot of alternatives,” said City Administrator Jerre Bryant, including more street signs, traffic calming measures such as speed tables and even barriers on the edge of the Condon’s property. Bryant said he thought the boulders were going to be a final solution, however, it doesn’t appear so. “Unfortunately, it was proven that doesn’t work.”

The speed limit on Cumberland Street is 30 mph at that stretch. Cars coming in from Windham, however, tend to travel faster than they should, according to Bryant. The curve in the road seems to give people some trouble, even though the city put up a flashing yellow light on the telephone pole on the corner of the Condon property.

Condon said she feels the trouble is caused by a combination of cars traveling at high speed coming from Windham, the darkness of that area where there’s only one streetlight and a general increase in traffic in the last couple years. Other contributing factors, according to McCarthy, are drivers who are inattentive, fatigued or under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Condon said there have probably been about 15 incidents of cars running off the road in some way or another since they’ve lived there.

In July two years ago, a drunk driver missed the turn and hit the bank of yard by the road. The car launched about thirty feet in the air over their driveway, flipped onto its roof and kept going. Condon said it didn’t stop until it “wrapped around” the house next to hers. The driver in that accident was injured, Condon said.

Just one month later, Windham police were chasing a stolen car that missed the turn, hit the bank and flew up over a 10-foot-high lilac bush to come to a halt right next to the back steps. The car somehow managed to squeak between the house and the garage, which are separated by about 10 feet. Condon said there were clumps of earth and grass on the roof of the garage. The driver and passenger were uninjured.

On May 7, the driver claimed a deer jumped into the road, which Condon said is very likely.

However, the driver, Douglas Clement, 22, of Falmouth, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. McCarthy said by the distance the car traveled, he was pretty sure Clement was exceeding the posted speed limit. The vehicle, a Ford Explorer, actually moved the boulder about a foot and a half. Clement wasn’t hurt other than a scrape on his arm and a rash from the seatbelt, said McCarthy.

Condon said one of the options discussed was putting a guardrail up along her property, but the city said a guardrail might be deadly if someone hit it and was injured.

Condon said she’s glad no one has been killed or seriously injured, but she’s more concerned about herself than the drivers crashing into her house. “I can’t stand this,” she said. “I enjoy gardening, and it’s pretty bad if you can’t garden because you’re afraid you’ll get hit by a car.”

At this point, city doesn’t know what it will do. One thing affecting the outcome is the fact the road is a state road, so the city will have to get state approval for any improvements. Bryant said the city would like to put a light in at the intersection of Cumberland and Pierce streets, but he doesn’t think the situation warrants it in the state’s eyes.

“Short of putting a guardrail around that whole property, I don’t know what to do,” said City Councilor John O’Hara.

For now, Condon said she’s not sleeping more than a couple of hours in a row at night. The last time it took her about six months before she could sleep through the night. She still isn’t letting her grandchildren play in the front yard when they’re over and won’t be anytime soon.

Condon isn’t sure how much damage has been done to her house. The front right corner of her screened-in porch is crunched in and the whole porch shifted. She can’t close the screen door. The contractors haven’t figured out if the structure of the house has been compromised.

She said she and her husband liked to sit on the porch to eat breakfast and she liked to read on a loveseat out there during the nice weather.

“Not this summer,” she said.

‘Crash Corner’ becoming dangerous for homeownersA view of “Crash Corner.”In an effort to stop cars from crashing into Linda and Wayne Condon’s house on the corner of Pierce and Cumberland streets, the city installed large boulders on the corner. The boulders did not stop a car on May 7 that crashed into the house.On Monday, an SUV narrowly missed the house on the corner of Pierce and Cumberland streets, breaking a telephone pole in the process.

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