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Fallston neighborhood concerned after serious crash, says speeders are constant problem

Posted at 3:38 PM, Jan 16, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-17 07:19:34-05

A loud crash alerted neighbors something was wrong on Milton Avenue in Fallston around 11:40 a.m. Saturday.

As they looked to see what happened, they found a car up on its nose, back bumper ripped off, an SUV in front, and a two-door sedan behind pinching the car in place.

"We just heard this loud bang and I ran to the foyer and you could see from the foyer immediately the guy stumbling out of his car in a daze and immediately got on his phone calling 9-1-1," Neighbor Rudy Dinglas said.

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Neighbors say the driver was an employee for Cook Volkswagen. Dinglas said he heard the man say he passed out.
 
The driver was not seriously injured and no one else was injured from the crash.
 
Neighbors say they were lucky, because this isn't the first time they've had a crash on their block. Milton Avenue is a slender street that connects Bel Air Road with Harford Road. It becomes a bypass for commuters and works as a back way for car dealership employees.
 
"We have talked with Jones which has tried to talk to their employees which did help for a little bit," Tricia Vaughn said they talked about 18 months ago, but it's gone back to the same.
 
ABC2 spoke with a manager at Jones Kia who said they never take test drives through neighborhoods. He also said each week they talk with employees, reminding them to be courteous in nearby neighborhoods, and not to speed or race.
 
Vaughn said Cook has been more difficult to work with. When ABC2 went into their business, they said they are not ready to release a statement.
 
"You're scared to death to let your kids go outside and play, because people don't slow down, they don't see the kids coming around the bend," Vaughn said. She has three young children of her own in elementary and middle school.
 
Vaughn said in a community study conducted by the Homeowner's Association, anywhere from one to four children live in each home on their street. She explained they have so many kids, they fill up an entire elementary school bus, with three kids on each bench. 
 
The community signed a petition, garnering 79 of 101 property owners, asking the county to close one end of the block to create a cul de sac. In August 2016 it was denied, after traffic tests, instead "chokers" were put in at the end of the street near Bel Air Road, along with a speed hump and sign warning drivers they are entering a neighborhood.
 
The speed limit is 25 miles per hour, but a state trooper who lives in the area said he gave out 20 warnings in the last year to speeders on Milton Avenue.
 
After the crash on Saturday, he said he's cracking down. He said two kids under 10 years old were hit by cars on that street in the last 12 years and Vaughn said her neighbor had her car totaled by a speeding driver last summer.
 
The community was built in two stages, in 2002 and 2005.

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