Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
A representative of the owner, Swarnalaxmi Real LLC, has asked for the city’s help to try to figure out a solution.
“This is freaking dangerous,” said William Lingle, who lives in the building and whose apartment rattled violently when a car crashed into the unit below his about 16 months ago. “Wayne is like the Indy 500 or Kil-Kare (Raceway).”
Traffic concerns along Wayne Avenue have been a hot topic lately, as some community members have pushed for changes to parts of the roadway, including sidewalk and pedestrian upgrades.
A unique problem
During the early morning hours of Dec. 29, 2023, a Chrysler sedan traveling north on Wilmington Avenue failed to make the left turn on Wayne Avenue and instead drove straight ahead, plowing into the apartment building at 2308 Wayne Avenue.
The vehicle was traveling at about 50 mph and the 50-year-old motorist told authorities he was on his cellphone at the time, says a traffic crash report.
The car smashed through the side of the building, into a bathroom in one of the downstairs units.
A 29-year-old resident who was in the bathroom area was injured by glass and brick and was taken to a hospital for treatment, the crash report states.
The resident suffered abrasions to her scalp, said Timothy Rudd, an attorney who represents the building owner.
“That bathroom was — let’s say — invaded very aggressively by a car, unintentionally,” he said.
Sohana Nekkandi, who has lived in the building for about three months, said she’s friends with the woman who was injured. The woman is a graduate student who had only lived in the apartment for about a month when the crash happened.
Nekkandi said her friend needed stitches and has moved out of the building. Her unit still has plywood boards covering the windows.
Nekkandi said she is worried that another collision could harm the structural stability of the building, potentially causing a collapse or other dangerous conditions.
She said the owner should put up a wall made of brick or stone or do something similar to try to prevent another destructive vehicle strike.
The December crash was the third time that an automobile has slammed into the property in the last several years, according to residents and others. The property has been struck by cars and trucks on other occasions in the past 15 years.
On Oct. 27, 2022, a 33-year-old motorist driving a Chevrolet Silverado north on Wilmington Avenue at an excessive speed collided with a vehicle at the Wayne Avenue intersection, sending the other vehicle spinning into the opposite lanes of traffic, a traffic report states.
The Silverado continued traveling north and rammed into the ground floor of the apartment building.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
Debris from the wall of the building went flying and struck and injured a couple of people who were inside one of the apartments, according to police and a crash report.
Dayton Fire Department District Chief Fred Haney at the time said it was incredible that no one was killed.
“Any time you have a vehicle that goes into a structure, all the way into it, you’re lucky to be alive,” he said.
The apartment building’s tenants were evacuated after the crash because of concerns about the structures’ safety and stability.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
And the building has seen other crashes and near misses.
In 2013, a car almost went completely through the front of the apartment building, bringing down a doorway overhang in the process.
On Jan. 25 of this year, a jeep traveling north on Wilmington Avenue apparently lost control and went over the curb in front of the apartment building and struck a home at 2300 Wayne Ave., which is next door, a crash report states.
Rudd said the owner installed boulders in front of the building, but that didn’t stop the most recent crash from happening. There are eight boulders, which aren’t much bigger than a large bag or short end table.
The owner has considered putting in larger boulders or possibly Jersey barriers, Rudd said.
But he said perhaps the most simple and best solution is to install safety bollards in the right-of-way. He asked the city for help getting that done or something similar.
There used to be guardrails in front of the building, but those have been removed.
Lingle, a 52-year-old resident at the building, said it was a mistake to get rid of the guardrails and he’d like to see new ones installed.
Or, failing that, he’d like to see some “monster” rocks put out front.
Lingle said he woke up when heard the last building strike in December, but the crash in October 2022 shook his apartment.
Lingle, like Nekkandi, said he thinks bollards might not be adequate to take care of the problem.
Lingle said if a large vehicle like a semi-truck crashed into the building that could cause serious harm and tragedy. He said the crash next door in January shows that this problem isn’t going away easily.
Lingle said the one silver lining of the collisions is that he’s gotten to know his neighbors, when they gather outside, following the accidents.
But he said people aren’t likely to live there long if they are able to move and this problem isn’t addressed.
Another part of Wayne Avenue, to the north, has received a lot of attention recently because a group of concerned community members have asked the city to make safety improvements.
Local residents and stakeholders have said that a section Wayne Avenue, basically between Wyoming Street and U.S. 35, is very dangerous for pedestrians and they would like to see wider sidewalks, more street trees, upgraded pedestrian crossings, new bike lanes and lower speed limits.
The city said it’s going to do a safety study to determine what kinds of changes could help out.
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