Neighbors Say Crashes Common Along North Charlotte Curve

Neighbors said it's sad that it has taken a deadly accident to spur change along a north Charlotte road.

Tire marks and a damaged tree remain along Beatties Ford Road near McClure Avenue where a driver crashed and died over the weekend.

Police said early Sunday morning, the driver, 25-year-old Samuel Deland, was speeding around a curve when he crossed the center line. They said he overcorrected and lost control, and his car slammed into a tree.

Brad Frye lives across the street and got to the scene before emergency responders.

“It was bad,” he said. “The car was on fire and he was pinned in."

The car hit a tree in Kathy Thompson's yard. She said the fatal accident was not the first serious crash she’s seen there.

"Somebody came across, hit the tree -- so we no longer have the tree there," she said, pointing to another spot in the yard.

Thompson said a number of other cars have landed in her yard.

"My husband had to pull a man through a sunroof out of a van that flipped in our yard," she said.

Thompson said her neighbors have been concerned for some time, but no one has taken any action.

“It took a fatal accident to maybe pull some attention and say, ‘Hey, this has got to stop,’" she said.

There is currently a caution sign in place showing there’s a curve ahead that directs drivers to slow down to 40 mph. But neighbors said drivers go much faster than that, and more needs to be done to warn people and slow them down.

"It'd be nice to see the reflective arrows or a guardrail -- something to draw attention to the driver that, ‘Hey, you really need to slow down on this curve,’" Thompson said.

Both the state and Charlotte Department of Transportation said traffic engineers are investigating the area, but it will take weeks to determine what, if any, changes need to be made along Beatties Ford Road.