INDIANAPOLIS — A family on the southwest side woke up this morning to their house shaking after a car had smashed its way into their dining room.

Bonnie Christian and her family have lived off State Road 67, or Kentucky Ave, for 14 years. Christian said once Ameriplex Parkway was built, they started seeing a lot more cars end up in their front yard. Tuesday was the latest example.

“We were in bed, it was 3:30 in the morning and my house just shook like it got hit by thunder and lightning and we went to see what it was and we had a car in our dining room,” Christian said.

A camera outside her house managed to capture the thud as the car broke through her dining room wall, crushing flower pots, bricks and more on its way.

“My whole dining room wall is gone, my grandfather clock is destroyed,” Christian said.

Luckily, no one was hurt, including the driver.

“He just asked if everyone was okay and he was sorry, he didn’t mean to do it,” Christian said.

Christian called IMPD. Officers told her the driver said his brakes had stopped working.

This is just the latest car to hit her property. Since 2019, IMPD has had six accident reports listed for Christian’s address. She has heard any number of excuses.

“They didn’t see the house, they didn’t know the road ended, the GPS said this is the way to go,” she said.

The most recent incident happened in June when a car sped off the road and hit her house, knocking down bricks and breaking her granddaughter’s bedroom window. That driver initially took off but was later arrested. His bumper with his license plate fell off the car when he hit Christian’s house.

”It’s scary for her,” Christian said. “It’s very scary for her.”

After the June incident, Christian reached out to INDOT to see if anything could be done.

”I tried to get help from the state and they won’t even put up a guardrail or do anything to protect me and my family,” she said.

In an email response to Christian, a spokesperson said a traffic engineer said there is no need for a guardrail to be installed in front of Christian’s property. The email gave this reasoning.

“The purpose of a guardrail is to reduce the severity of potential accidents caused by an errant vehicle leaving the roadway and hitting a structure or going down a steep embankment. Because guardrail is also an obstacle, the guardrail is only installed if the installation offers less potential hazard than the obstacle it is protecting drivers from or the embankment that may cause drivers to overturn. At this location, there is no embankment or structure within INDOT right of way that indicates we should consider a guardrail. If desired, property owners can install a guardrail or fencing within their property line.” the email said.

Christisan’s worried these crashes will only get worse.

”We’ve not been hurt yet, but if we don’t get a guardrail or move it’s probably inevitable,” she said.

Christian has tried her own ways of protecting her home like tires in the front yard and even a stop sign hanging from a tree.

”I took it seriously and hung it up,” she said. The stop sign and no parking sign under it had initially been given to her as a joke by her brother.

Any other solutions passed those, though, aren’t affordable for her.

We took Christian’s concerns back to INDOT on Tuesday morning.

A spokesperson said INDOT is looking into possible solutions along the road that could be added to a future project this spring. The spokesperson said multiple factors are complicating any possible infrastructure installation, preventing them from making any immediate changes.

Meanwhile, Christian feels stuck.

”My friends and family tell me I need to move but it’s not that simple, and it’ll just be somebody else’s problem,” Christian said.

Her family will now wait to hear back from their insurance company and then start the repairs on their house once again.