Car crashes, damages home and snarls traffic on Mt. Rose Avenue

Two times in six years.

That's the number of times a car has caused damage to Emily Kefauver's home on Mt. Rose Avenue.

The Spring Garden Township resident spent much of Saturday morning on the phone with her insurance company. In the front yard, the siding of her home lay in ruin.

Just a few hours earlier a gold car zoomed past, lost control and crashed, knocking out a telephone pole and damaging nearly five homes, she said.

"At first I thought the car was coming into our home," Kefauver said."So I got the kids and took them to the neighbors."

According to Spring Garden Township police, the incident occurred in the 1600 block of Mount Rose Avenue just before 10 a.m. Saturday morning.

Police have not released the name or condition of the driver.

Officers also closed down the busy road, forcing many drivers to seek alternate routes.

Kefauver isn't surprised a car damaged the homes in her neighborhood. Six years ago, a second car cost $45,000 worth of damage to her home, she said.

The driver, she added, was on OxyContin stemming from a medical procedure.

"That person shouldn't have been driving," she said.

To protect her home, Kefauver said she installed a buffer on the corner of her lawn in an effort to keep cars away from her property. When she urged state officials for more protection, she said they only installed a white line to keep motorists on Mt. Rose Avenue.

"It worked until now," she said.

Kefauver said she and her family are planning to move out of the home, but now they have to concentrate on repairing the damage. She is thinking about lobbying state officials to take at better safety measures on the street, she said.

Police are continuing to investigate the cause of the accident.

— Please contact reporter Sara Blumberg at sblumberg@yorkdispatch.com