PHOENIX — It's a dire problem that the Shafer family has dealt with for years.
“The first time we thought it was just a fluke, now it’s these last three years in a row now,” said Kay Shafer. She lives off 36th Street near Piestewa Peak.
Four separate times drivers went through their landscaping, going airborne, rolling over on their driveway, and sometimes ending up in their ravine.
Shafer believes the Piestewa Peak overlook attracts overnight activity.
"It's dark, they veer off and try to turn here and must realize at some point, or it's too fast," Shafer said.
She believes drivers will drink or smoke, then race down the mountain and mistake their home for a turn.
"We wake up and see this car in our driveway and no one’s there and the car is there, airbags are all exploded,” Shafer said.
The fourth and most recent incident happened in the early morning of May 11. A white car was found upside down with no one inside. The damage cost the Shafers thousands of dollars.
"It can't happen this many times and nobody does anything," Shafer pleaded.
In a video captured by surveillance cameras in January this year, you can hear gunfire and cars speeding off at the public overlook.
We reached out to Phoenix police about calls for service in the area and we reached out to the City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department on the issue.
They tell us the Street Transportation Department did a 48-hour speed study in March 2021 after Shafer's request.
The department said, "The study indicated an average speed of 26.2 MPH."
The department said if Shafer wanted speed humps or cushions, she would need to gather petitions from neighbors.
But since that time, the Phoenix Street Transportation Department said, “It was determined that the grade of the road is too steep for this type of speed mitigation.”
The Shafer family also contacted the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department. They recommended a few things, but those also required neighbors to agree, and it didn't go anywhere.
The Shafers are demanding a solution before blood is on their property.
"We don't want someone up there partying, dying in our yard. Nor do we want our property damaged. Or God forbid, if they come faster and slide through, actually our house,” Shafer said.