'I was told by a city engineer that it wasn't a dangerous corner'

PORTLAND, Ore. - It's a tricky spot in northeast Portland - an 'S' curve along Prescott Street, right at 37th.

Neighbors who live there say despite complaints to the city, cars continue to crash into their yards and homes.

Prescott is a busy thoroughfare. You can drive along at 30 miles per hour until you hit that curve. That's when the speed limit suddenly drops to 15 miles per hour.

The trouble is, not everyone slows down and there have been a number of crashes.

Two years ago, resident Stephanie Simmons contacted KATU for help and we brought out someone from the Portland Bureau of Transportation to take a look.

"This is something that we think is our problem," PBOT representative Dan Anderson told us at that time.

• April 13, 2010: Living in a danger zone

So has anything been done since then? The answer is no.

"I was told by a city engineer that it wasn't a dangerous corner," said Simmons.

She wants a guard rail but the city says those aren't for protecting private property, so they are not an option. Neither are stop signs or speed bumps. It's an emergency route, so instead there will just be warning signs.

"I think people just need to start paying attention when driving," said resident Nathan Banfi, who also lives along the curve.

"It just scares me to death that someone's going to get killed in my front yard," said Simmons.

The city believes many of the problems there are related to speed, distracted driving and alcohol. They said at this point they are continuing to encourage people who live in that area to report the crashes.