Residents of a Burbank neighborhood are calling for more safety precautions after yet another vehicle driven by a drunk driver slammed into a concrete wall near a “problem intersection” by their homes.
The spot in question is where Vanowen Street meets Buena Vista Street; Vanowen ends at Buena Vista – the latter of which runs across railroad tracks directly adjacent to the intersection – and homes on North Buena Vista have been terrorized by numerous crashes over the past few decades, including one on Tuesday morning.
According to a Burbank Police Department spokesperson, the early morning crash took place at 4:37 a.m. at 1835 Buena Vista Street; fortunately, the home on the property was saved from damage by a concrete wall and a large tree.
Footage from the scene of the crash showed a black Nissan Altima that had struck a traffic light pole and careened through the concrete wall.
An update issued by police just before 11:30 a.m. Tuesday confirmed that the Altima was traveling southbound on Buena Vista when it lost control before smashing into the retaining wall.
A passenger sustained serious injuries and was transported to a local hospital, while the driver was placed under arrest for felony driving under the influence.
A spokesperson for the Burbank Police Department released a statement to KTLA regarding the recent “interest” in the intersection, saying that the location has averaged just over four collisions per year for the last five years.
Most of the crashes are due to DUI drivers hitting fixed objects or unsafe turning movements, the spokesperson said.
Tuesday morning’s collision comes less than two weeks after a Tesla smashed into a home on Buena Vista on May 15. The homeowner, Regina Reyes, says that while she is thankful that neither her family nor the driver involved were seriously injured, she and other nearby residents are frustrated with the constant threat of reckless drivers.
Reyes’ neighbors, the Castro family, have lived in their home since the 1950s and have seen drivers on Vanowen Street “constantly” driving drunk and speeding recklessly, endangering the row of homes nearby.
“I’ve lived here all my life and I’ve seen a lot of accidents, especially at the corner [pink] house,” Michael Castro said. “It’s dangerous…I wish [officials] would do something more.”
Residents say that a pink house located at 1838 Buena Vista Street is known as the “most accident-prone in the country,” and news articles dating back to the 1960s detail dozens of crashes and collisions at that one home alone.
According to reports, at one point, the owners even proposed the home be bought by the city council, saying that the property was unsafe to inhabit.
Burbank city officials have installed dividers and barricades to protect the homes, but residents say it’s still not enough; they want a heavier police presence, more traffic lights and the installation of speed bumps.
“We don’t know if we are exactly safe…in the area,” another nearby resident, David Barhona, told KTLA 5’s Ellina Abovian. “At this corner, [crashes] are very frequent…this month, there were three big accidents over here, and we worry sometimes because we don’t know what is going on.”