Neighbors fed up after decades of crashes along Hanley Road and West Pine
Published 3:01 pm Thursday, April 3, 2025
A Saturday crash involving a driver arrested for DUII is the latest of dozens since 1970, residents say
Residents in a rural Central Point neighborhood are demanding improved safety measures at a bend in the road between West Pine Street and Hanley Road that has been the site of decades worth of horrific and sometimes fatal crashes.
Up in arms after a 7 p.m. crash Saturday night left a mangled, upside-down car in Kyle Cavanaugh’s front yard — neighbor Bailey Wright, and Wright’s 3-year-old son, Jackson, were nearly struck — neighbors are hopeful for reduced speeds, added lighting and other improvements they say are long overdue.
Central Point police Chief Scott Logue — who confirmed Saturday’s crash involved a driver who was arrested and charged with DUII — said the spot is familiar to law enforcement, with eight serious crashes on the curve since 2017, including five since 2023.
Logue said he personally responded to a double-fatality crash at the site just over a decade ago in which intoxication was also determined to be a factor. City officials, who took jurisdiction of the portion of roadway in 2023, say they’re working with neighbors to install additional guardrails at the site and are discussing further improvements.
Wright said he’s no stranger to crashes on the busy roadway just west of Mae Richardson Elementary School. He and his son were outside feeding lambs after dinner on Saturday when he heard the familiar sound of screeching tires and a revving engine moments before a vehicle landed 30 feet from where he and his son were standing.
Hanley Road residents Kyle Cavanaugh, left, Rachel Wright and Bailey Wright talk about a crash that occurred Saturday nearly striking Bailey Wright and his son, Jackson, held by Rachel Wright. Buffy Pollock / Rogue Valley Times
“She smacked our tree and went right into our lawn. I put my son inside and told my wife to call 911. I run over and the lady is laying outside of her window. … I wasn’t expecting whoever was in the car had survived, but she did,” Wright said.
“There was an infant car seat, which made my heart drop … thankfully no one else was in the car.”
While the scene was upsetting — the couple’s son couldn’t sleep for several nights following the crash — property damage and safety risks are a norm for neighbors, Wright said.
Wright’s grandparents, Tony and Barb Shope, live next door and have witnessed “more than 30” crashes, Tony Shope said, since purchasing their property in 1970. The crashes range in severity — in terms of driver injury and property damage for neighbors, Shope said.
“We’ve had at least five deaths right out here since we bought the house,” Shope told the Rogue Valley Times on Tuesday.
“The first one was one month after we moved here, a young man from Washington hit the tree. Unfortunately it killed him. … I had just come home from Vietnam and I was so used to noises with guns going off and airplanes taking off and everything, I didn’t even know it happened until the next morning.”
After three fatalities, Shope took out the tree, trading fatalities in his front yard for drivers destroying fences and other property.
Hanley Road resident Tony Shope looks at photos of the most recent half-dozen crashes that occurred near the end of, or into, his driveway. Buffy Pollock / Rogue Valley Times
Cavanaugh said “probably 90%” of the crashes end up with arrests for drunken driving. Neighbors have a list of stories with photos to match. Cavanaugh and Wright talked on Tuesday about “the guy from the high-speed chase,” a man driving a Kia Soul who careened off the road almost hitting Cavanaugh’s porch; “the woman who tore the wheel off her car” and left holes in Shopes’ driveway; and a drunk driver who crashed into the Shopes’ front porch, causing more than $20,000 in damage.
Other near misses for the Shopes include a head-on crash that occurred last November near the end of the driveway, not long after another incident in which Barb Shope, gardening in her front yard, was nearly hit by a motorcyclist that police determined “took the corner too fast,” Wright said.
Nearby resident Katie Jack, whose driveway is off West Pine Street, said crashes have increased incrementally in recent years — eight in the past decade near her driveway — making it “incredibly hard to enjoy our front yard. We are constantly worried about ourselves and our cars.”
After Saturday’s crash nearly struck Wright and his son, Wright’s wife, Rachel, posted photos to social media and started a petition on Change.org, urging local officials to take notice.
Central Point Parks and Public Works Director Matt Samitore said he heard about the crash on Sunday and “immediately started to work on solutions.”
Hanley Road resident Bailey Wright and his 3-year-old son, Jackson, look at two trees, planted last spring as a safety barrier, leveled by Saturday’s crash. Buffy Pollock / Rogue Valley Times
City crews will replace mangled guardrail near Jack’s property and install additional guardrail — a $27,000 project set to happen in two weeks — in front of the homes of Cavanaugh and the Shopes.
Lighting and signage, some of which had been destroyed in various crashes, will take longer and involve several entities.
Samitore pointed out that some $4.5 million in safety improvements planned adjacent to nearby Mae Richardson Elementary were prompted by safety issues. The area includes at least five school bus stops, and students of nearby schools have had a slew of “near misses,” Samitore told the Times last year.
Cavanaugh, who said he was grateful the city stepped up quickly to work toward solutions, said he worries for neighbors, especially the Shopes, who neighbors all refer to as “Meemaw and Poppy.”
“Poppy had just got done re-barking that entire area before Saturday and Meemaw takes her nightly walks and looks at all her flowers,” Cavanaugh said.
“It’s terrifying when a car comes barreling through your front yard. … We can get out of the way a lot faster than Meemaw, and the woman on Saturday almost hit Bailey and Jackson. We all just worry … all the time.”
Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 458-488-2029 or buffy.pollock@rv-times.com. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.
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