INDIANAPOLIS — Residents in a neighborhood on the northeast side of Indianapolis are concerned after two more cars crashed at East 62nd Street and Knyghton Road last weekend.
The residential intersection is just east of Binford Boulevard and is a three-way stop.
“In the three years that we have lived here, I can count at least 10 accidents that we are aware of. Two of them have been fatal,” Mike Abel said.
Abel and his family moved to the Devonshire neighborhood in August 2020 but said it’s an issue that goes back decades.
The original homeowner told 13News that cars were crashing in his front yard back in the 1960s. Before he moved in 2020, he said there was a wreck almost every month.
Abel said the problem is that the road is often used as a cut-through to get from Binford Boulevard to Fall Creek Road, and the drivers are not obeying the stop signs.
“They are coming east on 62nd, and they are either not paying attention or they are inebriated to the point where they don’t realize that the road stops,” Abel said.
Most recently, a truck was found in Abel’s driveway on Saturday evening. Abel said the driver was asleep and intoxicated.
Then Sunday morning, Abel woke up to another car that smashed into the boulders in his front yard. He said the driver was nowhere to be found.
Abel said a few years ago, a car also smashed into the corner of his neighbor’s house.
“It was going so fast that it went over the boulders, came through and plowed into the corner of my neighbor’s house,” Abel said.
Neighbors said they have reached out multiple times to the city to get the issue addressed. They are hoping to make the intersection more visible with lights and flashing stop signs. They also suggest “squaring off” the intersection and adding additional stop signs at 62nd Street and Green Leaves Road.
The Indianapolis Department of Public Works told 13News that additional signage has been added near the intersection. They also encourage neighbors to start a Street Change Petition to add speed bumps. The petition must be signed by 75% of affected property owners to initiate a traffic study. DPW will determine if the requested change is warranted.
You can find more information about DPW’s Street Change Policy Procedure here.
In the meantime, Abel has this message for drivers.
“You are in a neighborhood and there are people who are walking, riding their bikes, just going about their day-to-day that you are putting at risk with the way that you are driving through here,” Abel said.