Cape home hit by car for 3rd time in 5 years

CAPE CORAL, Fla. It’s a dangerous streak of bad luck for a house.

A car slammed into a home at El Dorado Parkway and Skyline Boulevard early Wednesday morning for the the third time in the last five years. And the city isn’t sure what, if anything, can be done to stop it from happening.

Philip F. Brousseau, 57, of Robert Avenue in Lehigh Acres, told police he didn’t think Skyline ended where it did after he drove a 1999 Mercury Grand Marquis into the home at 800 El Dorado Parkway West.

The homeowner is out of the country and no one was inside when the crash took place shortly before 1 a.m. Brousseau was taken to Lee Memorial Hospital with minor injuries.

Neither drugs nor alcohol were factors, police said, but alcohol was involved in the two previous wrecks there, city spokeswoman Connie Barron said.

“If there were a consistent pattern of accidents occurring at this intersection, we would evaluate the location and what potential modifications could be made to improve safety,” Barron said. “Unfortunately, there is very little we can do to make impaired drivers pay attention to the road signs and speed limits, and drive safely.”

The T-shaped intersection isn’t unique — it’s one of many of its kind throughout the city, Barron said. It has two stop signs for vehicles going south, as Brousseau was, and directional signage letting drivers know they have to turn.

The speed limit along that section of Skyline is 35 mph, Barron said.

The sight of the extensively damaged home was familiar for nearby resident Tony Borg.

“Over the years my wife and I would drive by and I said, ‘Hon, the house got hit with another vehicle,'” Borg said. “And this would be like one or two times a year.”

The city’s records indicate crashes took place

Borg’s advice is to construct a barrier.

“We have a house very similar to this, and I was going to propose to the owner to build a protective wall to protect the home,” he said.