Crash into home raises safety issue

The owners of a mobile home at 1100 Whisper Lake Blvd., in Sebring, got a big surprise when they woke up Monday morning - a dark blue Acura Integra leaning on its side against their Florida room.

There were tire skid marks through the grass swale and through a newly planted row of hedges, where the car and driver left Memorial Drive while rolling over, before hitting the house and coming to a stop on the passenger side.

A small tree was ripped from its stump and a young palm tree was pushed over.

The driver, apparently, climbed out of the driver's side window and left the scene of the crash. The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the crash and could not be reached Monday for comment.

David and Sandra Power, whose master bedroom is on the other end of the house, were both awakened during the night by a loud noise and vibration, but went back to sleep.

"We didn't know what it was," said David Power, who believed it was about 2 a.m., but wasn't sure. "We thought it was a sonic boom."

"We sleep at the other end of the house with the door closed and he sleeps with a CPAP (breathing device) and has his hearing aids out," Sandra Power said.

The noise scared their dog Punkin, a Lhasa Apso, who jumped out of bed.

"When Dave got up in the morning he came back to the bedroom and said 'I think you better get up; Somebody's car hit the house,'" she said. "I said, 'Is anybody in it?' and he said, 'I don't know.'"

It was about 6:30 a.m. when they called 911, he said.

Their guest bedroom also took a severe hit pushing in part of a wall.

"Our kids left a month ago," he said, adding he was glad it was not occupied. "They were sleeping in there while they were visiting."

The couple moved into the house from Michigan about a year ago, they said. They planted the hedges in April, in an attempt to suppress the road noise.

"We just had the place sided and the windows tinted; that was about August," he said. "We put new AC duct work in July." That was also damaged.

Public safety issue

The crash also raised a safety issue the Whisper Lake park owners and residents who want Highlands County to put in guardrails along Memorial Drive. Others had an issue with speed enforcement.

Park Manager Joe Shorts said the attorneys for the owners of the park had contacted the county after another home was struck by a stray car that left the roadway in a curve south of the Memorial entrance to Whisper Lake.

"The commissioners said there weren't enough occurrences here," Shorts said, who added he's been with the park for six years. "I know of three; this is four.

"Two have hit houses. How many houses do they have to hit before they put in guardrails?"

Mobile homes are not structurally built like a house, he said.

"So, if a car was to hit, it knocks them off their foundation and breaks their plumbing and wiring," he said.

Dangerous curve

Kermit Gephart's former home at 1445 Whisper Lake Blvd. was struck by a car in March of 2010.

"Mine never made the papers," said Gephart. "And mine was burning. (The driver) said my car is on fire put the fire out. I went to get the hose, but I had no water. I don't know. The crash might have knocked out the water system."

The driver's insurance paid, but not enough.

"They gave me money," Gephart said, not saying how much. "They wouldn't fix it. They said it cost too much."

He and his wife moved to another park, he said.

Tom and Betty Winsey bought that mobile home about three months ago and fixed it.

"It's a threat all the time on these curves," he said. "People are speeding and they need enforcement."

Drivers knock down the curve warning arrow signs all the time.

About a six weeks after they moved in a driver came off the road in the curve, hit one curve warning sign, came back onto the road and wiped out two more signs before ending up in the weeds, said Betty Winsey.

"It's luck she didn't come down the hill," she said, which would have hit their house or put the car in a retention pond.

She spoke with a worker who was replacing the curve warning arrow signs and asked him who she needs to talk to about guardrails.

He told her something like no disrespect to you ma'am, but you're wasting your breath, she said.

"I don't think it should be 45 (mph)," she said. "Not with all the turns on this road."

Park resident Angela Lambert agreed and said she doesn't see as much speed enforcement on this part of Memorial Drive.

The speed on this road is too high," she said. "I don't see any cops... unless there's an accident or they're looking for someone."

County's position

County Engineer Ramone Gavarrete was in his office Monday catching up on some work. He said the county looks at the frequency, not a specific number of crashes when looking at installing guardrails.

"We can review the area," he said.

Of course Monday's crash would not be on record yet, he added.

Gavarrete said the county may put up some additional warning signage before it puts up guardrails.

"A guardrail is not a cure for running off the road," he said, adding that in some cases it can make a crash worse by redirecting the vehicle into a head-on crash.

"We can always look at it," he said. "We'll do a report and see what jumps out."

As far as speeders, that's up to law enforcement, he said.

Highlands County Sheriff's Lt. John Barcinas said Monday that most of the county deputies vehicles are now equipped with radar and some are equipped with hand-held lasers.

Due to the economy of the times the sheriff's office does not have a designated traffic unit. Whether deputies are stationary running radar depends a lot on the call volume, he said.

"Anytime a citizen in the county requests radar we try and accommodate them," he said.

If they request it the sheriff's office won't have a problem getting some speed enforcement in there, he said.